The Final Curse
by warrior-princess-1311
Summary: Taryn, August and Dixie must return to the curse in order to find the one thing that can destroy it forever. New alliances are formed and the curse is stronger than ever. Will Taryn and her friend be able to survive it a third time? Or will Iris win this round?
1. Chapter 1

The cool evening breeze hit the girls' faces in a refreshing reprieve from the humid night air. The two girls, both dressed in black from head to toe, stood outside the pale blue house. Once the last of the lights went out, they would make their move.

Evie studied the girl standing beside her. She was tall and slim. Her dark eyes were intense as she surveyed the house before them. To say she was intimidating would have been an understatment.

"Quit staring." The girl hissed.

Evie quickly turned away but not before catching a glimpse of the scar when the girl turned to glare at her. Running from the corner of her mouth up to her right eye, it made the girl appear even more intimidating. Evie had asked many times where it had come from but the girl had always refused to answer.

The older girl was quiet and kept to herself. She didn't have any friends back at the base. No one ever spoke to her unless necessary. She had a name but Evie didn't know what it was.

"Here we go." The girl checked the knife strapped to her waist.

Evie noticed the lights had gone off in the house and nodded. "Let's get this over with. I'm hungry."

The girl chuckled. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

The two moved through the shadows in perfect unison. Their mission? Eliminate Iris' number one threat. August.

Getting into the house was easy enough. The building was old and the locks were basically falling off the door. The girl stood behind Evie, impatiently tapping her foot. Evie did her best to ignore her as she worked on the lock. Once the door was opened, the girl pushed past Evie and strode inside.

Evie sighed and followed her. That was one thing about her partner. She was nothing if not efficient. Once she was given an order, she got it done without another thought for anything else.

If Iris was right, August's roommates wouldn't be home tonight which made their job a lot easier. August's room was at the back of the house. Together, Evie and the girl moved through the shadows cast by the moon. The girl moved with a certain grace and her feet were sure. Evie envied her for that. It was like the girl was floating.

The girl's fist came up to halt Evie when she heard someone moving around inside the room.

"We should wait until he's asleep." Evie whispered.

The girl shook her head. "We outnumber him. Besides, you've taken out bigger goons than him. Let's just take him now."

Evie's heart pounded in her chest. Iris' words echoed through her mind. _"Under no circumstances are you allowed to let him see her."_ Evie had questioned her as to why but Iris had refused to answer.

"No," Evie took hold of the girl's wrist to stop her, "we wait."

The girl glared down at her wrist and then back up at Evie. "The others could be back by then. We move now." One swift movement and she'd shaken Evie's hand off.

Evie desperately reached for her again, but it was took late. The girl silently opened the door and slipped inside. Evie had no choice but to follow.

August didn't notice them at first. HIs back was turned to the door and he seemed fixated on something in his hand.

The sound of scraping metal as the girl unscathed her knife caught his attention. His eyes glistened with tears when he turned. HIs hands trembled as they clutched onto a small polaroid picture. Evie had to do a double take, but the girl in the photo look scarily like her partner. Minus the scar.

At first, his eyes widened in shock to find two strange girls in his room. It was the reaction Evie had been expecting. This he looked over at Evie's partner, which brought on a reaction she wasn't expecting. His eyes filled with tears and his lips twitched in a sort of half smile. Evie couldn't decide if he was thrilled or disappointed to see the girl. Either way, it was obvious he knew her.

"Taryn," he breathed, "what have they done to you?" His eyes trailed over the scar on the girl's face.

The girl stood still as a statue. Something in his voice had triggered her. What had August called her? Taryn? Her fists clenched at her sides. She kept staring at August with an expression Evie couldn't read.

"Should I know you?" Taryn asked softly.

August didn't look surprised that Taryn didn't seem to know him. Instead of answer her question, he motioned to her scar. "What happened? Who did that to you? If it was Colton, I swear I'll kill him."

Taryn seemed to be in some sort of daze as she reached up and gingerly rested her fingers on the scar.

Evie decided it was time to go. She had a feeling if they stuck around any longer, things were going to get out of hand. Taryn no longer looked like she as going to be any help. It was a good thing they had a back up plan.

Evie grabbed onto Taryn's wrist and pulled her back. Doing so broke the connection the two had formed. August suddenly became panicked. He only barely dodged the knife Evie threw at him. Taryn looked like the life had been sucked from her. Iris had been right. Evie never should have let August and Taryn see each other.

"No!" August pleaded. "You can't go! Please, don't leave me again."

Taryn hesitated but Evie pulled her along. They had to get out of the house. With her free hand, Evie pulled the detonator out of her pocket. Iris' order replayed over and over in her mind. _"If things go south, we have precautionary measures set in place. Simply press the remote once both of you are out of the house. The rest will be taken care of."_

August raced after them, shouting frantically.

Evie pulled Taryn through eh house and out the front door. Her magic locked all the exits, trapping August inside.

Taryn frowned when Evie brought out the detonator. "Wait. What are you doing?"

"I'm following orders." She nodded toward the house. "Say goodbye." She pressed the button.

Taryn's eyes grew wide with recognition. "No." She whispered and turned back to the house. "No!" Her scream peirced through the night.

Before Evie could stop her, Taryn ran back toward the house. Taryn's magic must have been a lot stronger than hers because she entered without any resistance. Evie had already started the timer for the explosion. There was no taking it back now. She held her breath, waiting for Taryn to reemerge. She never did.

The explosion shook the earth as the angry red flames lit up the night. Iris was not going to be happy about this.

* * *

Every door, window or any form of exit out of the house was held fast by magic. Anger mixed with the overwhelming fear as August fought to break free. He need to get to Taryn. To save her and protect her. Iris, Colton, Isis; they were all going to pay for what they'd done.

The scar on her face had healed, but August could tell it had been inflicted fairly recently. His worst fears had been confirmed. She'd been tortured for who knows how long and August hadn't been there to protect her. He hated himself for that.

He froze when he heard the click. It wasn't possible. Was it? When had they rigged his house? A moment of relief washed over him when he remembered the other two, Dixie and Chord weren't home. They at least were safe.

The front door burst open then, causing August to nearly jump out of his skin. To his surprise, Taryn tackled him. They crashed to the ground in front of the sofa. Taryn leapt to her feet and tipped the sofa over to cover August's body before he had a chance to react. Seconds later, the explosion came.

The sofa saved his life. It burned and broke away in the heat, but it was just enough protection to keep him alive. He was surprised no debris had gotten to him. He'd been expecting to at least be all cut up but there wasn't a scratch on him.

That's when he noticed the blue aura shimmering around him. Taryn. She'd protected him.

A lump caught in his throat. Taryn. Where was she? Had she gotten out? Shielded herself?

He scrambled out from under the pile of rubble that used to be the furniture. The house was getting ready to collapse. Flames and smoke filled the room.

August searched what was left of the house until he was forced to retreat outside before he died of smoke inhalation. There was no sign of Taryn anywhere.

"Please be alive." August whispered his plea as the firemen arrived on the scene.

She was alive, August knew it. He was going to find her no matter what it took.

* * *

Isis carefully stepped through the debris that used to be August's house. If Evie was right and Taryn hadn't come out before the explosion, she would have been blown to so many pieces, they'd never find her.

Fortunately, Isis had tried to kill Taryn enough times to know she just wasn't that easy to dispose of. Especially now that her magic had developed. She'd be impossible to kill now.

Of course, Iris had been furious when she'd heard. Evie had been stripped of her magic and thrown into a cell. Now that Taryn was seemingly out of the picture, things weren't going to go exactly as planned.

A faint blue aura caught Isis' attention. She knelt down beside what used to be the sofa. It was magic. Taryn had protected someone. Whether it was the boy or herself, Isis didn't know. Knowing Taryn though, it was the boy she'd saved.

Another flicker caught her attention. On the other side of the room. It was much duller than the first, but was there. Taryn didn't walk out unscathed, but she was alive. Of that Isis was certain.

A smile tugged at the corner of the witch's lips. Leave it to Taryn to defy all the odds. Isis would always admire her for that. Hopefully, Taryn would remember what Isis had told her. They needed each other. This was bigger than both of them.

Isis stood and left the house. She would report back to Iris, but she'd let Taryn's secret remain just that. A secret. Taryn would live to see another day.

* * *

 **Guess who's back! haha! That's right! Finally back with the final installment to Taryn's story! I'm so excited :D**


	2. Chapter 2

Hello everybody and welcome back to another addition of 'Taryn Gets Her Butt Kicked and Doesn't Know Why'. In this weeks episode, my memory decided to go against me. Nothing made any sense anymore. First was the boy. I felt like I should know him but I couldn't place who he was. Topping that was the fact that I had this random ugly scar across half my face. It still ached as if it had been inflicted recently yet I had no memory of it.

The only clear memory I had was of a woman, only a little older than me. Stunningly beautiful yet cold. She was telling me something important. Something about saving the world. Everytime I thought about her though, I became irrationally angry. I didn't know what that meant, but if her words were true, I had to find her.

That would be my first step. After that, I'd find the boy again and try to sort out all these feelings. Maybe he would have some answers. At the very least, it was pretty clear he knew who I was. He could tell me who I was. Sure, I knew my name. But knowing your name and knowing who you are are two very different things. Believe me, I should know.

Before I could do any of that though, I'd have to deal with the problem staring me in the face. I didn't know a lot about anatomy but I was pretty sure you weren't supposed to be able to see the inside of your leg from the outside. I could barely look at it without losing any food I had left in my stomach. (And that was another thing. When was the last time I ate? I was freaking starving!)

How does one even treat a wound like that? Blood dripped down my cheek letting me know the scar had opened up again. That explosion had done a number on my body.

My magic wasn't going to work. Whether it was from my weakened state, or because I was trying to heal myself instead of someone else, I wasn't sure. Either way, it picked a bad time to conk out on me.

I grit my teeth and pulled myself to my feet using a tree as support. I bit back a scream as my leg nearly gave out under my weight.

Standing was hard enough let alone walking. Finding help was going to prove difficult. If I could even find any help.

My eyes clouded over with tears as I tried to get my bearings on where I was. What used to be the house stood several feet away. After the explosion, I'd sought refuge in the trees back behind his yard. So I knew where I was. Great. That didn't help me much because I had no idea where 'here' was.

"Come on, Taryn." I chided myself. "Quit complaining and just go. No one else can do this for you."

With the help of my own self motivation, I began the difficult, painful, hobbling trek back down the street.

I'm not sure how, but I managed to stay on my feet long enough to get to town. I was expecting to have half the town's attention considering I was leaving a nice little trail of blood everywhere I went and I could barely keep my feet under me. A few people gave me weird looks. Some did a double take as I shuffled past, but no one offered help and I was too stubborn to ask.

I found the emergency medical entrance by a stroke of luck. The last thing I remember was passing out at the front door. The next thing I new, I was in a hospital robe, lying on the uncomfortable hospital bed with a beeping monitor next to my head.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes, trying to get them back into focus. I'd always hated hospitals. They freaked me out. Placing your life in someone else's hands and allowing them to do who knows what to your body? No thanks. (I think it's pretty obvious I have some trust issues)

I pushed myself up into a seated position with a pained grunt. Just then, the door to my room opened and a nurse quietly padded inside. Her dark, greying hair was pulled up into a neat bun on top her head. A stethoscope hung around her tiny neck. She was engrossed in reading her clipboard and didn't notice me right away. I was twice her size. I decided I'd be able to take her on if she tried anything, which made me feel a little better.

She looked up and gasped, nearly dropping her clipboard. "You're awake."

"Well, aren't we observant." I motioned around the room. "Since I'm awake now, which you so kindly pointed out, does it mean I get to leave this overly sterile prison now?"

She checked her clipboard again. "Not for a few more days I'm afraid. You've suffered a serious injury to both your right leg and the back of your head. We'll need to monitor your condition to make sure no permanent damage was inflicted."

"Permanent means you can't fix it, right?" I asked.

She frowned, "yes?"

I smiled and yanked the I.V from my arm, earning a surprised gasp from the tiny woman. "Good, then I can leave."

"What? No. I just told you-"

"That you need to monitor my condition to make sure nothing's permanently damaged. Tell me this -" I paused long enough to read her name tag, "Norma. If you can't do anything about any permanent damage anyway, what would be the point of me staying? Seems to me I'm sorta screwed whether I stay here or not. And I'd rather not."

"But the doctor insists!"

"Yeah? Well the doctor can shove his opinions up his -"

"Welcome back to the world of the living." The door burst open and a young man strode in. Just like Norma, he was dressed in scrubs. Except he wore a white doctors coat over his. He wasn't wearing a stethoscope and his eyes were a bit more fierce than the nurse's. Him I might have a bit harder of a time getting past if I were to try and leave.

"I'm guessing you're the doc?"

He nodded with a warm smile.

"How long have I been here?"

"You've been in a comatose state for nearly five days."

My jaw hit the floor. "Five days? Crap. I need to leave."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you're not going anywhere."

I looked up to meet his eyes which weren't as warm and welcoming as his smile. "I don't have a choice. The deadline is tonight."

"What deadline?"

"Never mind. The point remains that I need to get out of here. From what I gathered from my dear friend, Norma, over here, other than a few flesh wounds I'm fine. I've dealt with flesh wounds before. I can do it again. Besides, five days is plenty of time for me to heal. I'll be fine from here, thank you."

"No." The doctor's tone was much firmer this time, leaving no room for argument. "You're my patient. It is my job to make sure you're alright, and frankly, I'm not entirely sure you are. You've suffered multiple injuries to your head. Not all of them are recent and not all of them are flesh wounds. In fact, I'd go as far to say that someone has messed with your brain before. I need to keep you here long enough to monitor your mental stability."

"You think I'm crazy." I breathed a humorless laugh.

"I did not say that."

"You implied it."

"Even so, if you are unstable, it appears as though it is not your fault."

I pulled myself up onto my knees and leaned in closer to his face. My voice was low as I said, "Buddy, I'm way past crazy. The things I've lived through, the things I've seen. Heck, the things I've done would be enough to drive anyone mad. But believe me when I say, I'm not the one you have to worry about. At least I still have a sense of humanity left inside my body. See, the people I'm after? The people who 'made me crazy', they don't care what happens to anyone. If you're unlucky enough to cross their path, your life is over. But of course, you'd already know that. Wouldn't you?"

His steely gaze never left mine. He was stubborn. "I don't believe I know what you're talking about."

"I think you do. Iris may have wiped my memory, but I'm not stupid. I've seen you around the base before. I know you work for her. You just want to keep me here so I can't run away because you're all worried my memory will come back to me, which it is. You've already guessed that though haven't you? See, I remember a lot of things. I remember the Ingramen sisters and their dear brother. I remember the stupid little curse and everyone's lives that it ruined. I remember the hell I lived through. You know what else I remember? I remember the army I have behind me of all the people you guys screwed over. So yes, you should be scared. It seems the coma allowed my brain some time to heal as well. That's what you're really concerned about, isn't it? You don't want to 'monitor' my condition. You want to keep it from getting better."

Norma looked like I'd slapped her across the face. "We're a hospital! Our main priority is our patients' health. We would never do anything to jeopardize that. Especially not Doctor Crowner."

"Yeah?" I turned to her with skepticism. "And how long have you known Mr. Crowner? When did he start working here? How many patients has he helped?"

She opened her mouth to answer but faltered. Her face blanked once she realized she didn't have any answers to my questions. Almost in slow motion, she turned to the doctor.

Crowner kept his eyes on me. I had to force myself to keep from shrinking away from his icy stare. "Already you know too much. Iris said your condition would be unstable. That explosion seems to have messed with some of the work I've put so much effort into completing. I will say it once more. You are not to leave this room without your doctor's permission."

I smirked up at his arrogant expression. "Watch me."

* * *

It had taken a while, but August had finally found out where Taryn was. A Jane Doe had been admitted to the local hospital the same day as the explosion. Either Taryn had been hurt badly enough that she'd sought out the help on her own, or she'd been found by someone else and taken in. Because heaven knows she would never go to a hospital of her own free will.

August wanted push the nurse along as she led him down the halls to Taryn's room. She was moving so slowly. He was so focused on moving faster, he wasn't watching where he was walking. August bumped against someone's arm, causing them to drop their paperwork on the floor. He threw a quick apology over his shoulder but didn't stop to help.

For a brief second, August caught the man looking at him. He was young but he was clearly a doctor. His eyes were wide and he seemed to recognize August. It looked as though he'd seen a ghost. That wasn't good. August had never seen that man before, but if he knew August it meant he worked for Iris. Which meant Taryn was in danger even here. He had to get her out.

"Here you are, Mr. Walsh. Your fiancé's room is right here. She has suffered a few severe head injuries so if she lacks some memories, do not be offended. It is not her fault." The nurse told him with a friendly smile.

August nodded his thanks, almost forgetting to respond to the fake name he'd given her and quickly slipped into the room. He was a more than a little disappointed, but not at all surprised to find the room empty. The window was open. Sheets and blankets had been tied together and thrown out the window after being attached to the bed. She'd been smart enough to figure out she wasn't safe. She'd left. A part of August was relieved. At least she was safe for now, though what her medical condition was, he wasn't sure. Hopefully it wouldn't cause any problems for her out there.

He was also upset that he'd apparently just missed her. If he'd just come a bit sooner he could have been there to help her.

There was no point in complaining about it now. It was done. He'd just have to find some other way to find her. For now, he would help her as much as he could. August quickly pulled the blankets back inside and untied them. He made the bed and made sure everything was in place. He even stuffed a few pillows under the blankets to hopefully keep them off her trail for a little while longer.

After that, he left. He didn't see the strange doctor or the nurse who'd helped him again. He was grateful for that. There would have been too many questions if he had. For now, it was best that he left the hospital unnoticed.

Unfortunately, now that Taryn was on the loose again, it meant she might find her way back to Iris and Isis on her own. Who knows what they had done to her. Chord and Dixie were already out searching. August hadn't told them about finding her at the hospital. He would fill them in now. At least they had a starting point now. She'd been here, and if Chord was good about it, he could probably pick up some sort of trail (the perks of being a bloodthirsty wolf for so long).

"Excuse me! Young man! Wait."

August turned to find the nurse who'd helped him earlier racing after him. She stopped a few feet away from him. She looked nervous but she kept eyeing him suspiciously.

"Dr. Crowner knew you." She said, finally breaking the awkward silence.

"Who?" August frowned. "I don't know any Dr. Crowner. Sorry." He turned to leave but she stopped him.

"You're August. Aren't you?"

August froze. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When a stranger knew your name, it was never a good thing. Taryn had taught him that. He slowly turned back to face her so his back wasn't to her anymore. If she was going to attack, he'd rather know about it.

Her breath hitched and she looked ready to cry. The strangest thing was, she didn't appear to want to attack him. A certain sadness lingered behind her dark eyes. She was shorter than August, but not by much. Her hands kept reaching up to pull at her short cropped dark hair.

"Do I know you?" August questioned.

She quickly shook her head. "No. You wouldn't know me. Not anymore."

August scoffed. "Ok? What's that supposed to mean? How do you know me?"

"I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself." She wiped a tear from her eye and smiled up at him.

August decided he'd rather face down Iris than the weird crying lady.

"My name is Sam. Taryn found me a while ago. I had to come when I heard she'd been admitted here."

August took a threatening step toward her when he heard Taryn's name. "What did you do to her?"

Sam held up her hands to keep him back. "I helped her leave. She's long gone by now. I sent her to the safe house for now until she has time to finish recovering."

"Safe house? What safe house? She's gone there alone?"

"Relax, August. I'm not going to harm her. We're here to help her." Sam reassured him.

He wasn't completely reassured. "Who's we?"

Sam hesitated. "I can't tell you that."

"Why not?"

"You'd tear my head off if I did and I'd like to live long enough to actually get to know my son."

The breath was knocked from his lungs and he nearly collapsed. What had she said? Had he heard her correctly? Was she really -? It wasn't possible. Was it?

She smiled nervously and studied her feet. "Look, we can talk about this later. It's not safe here. Head to the safe house." She handed him a slip of paper with a map scribbled down on it. "We'll answer all your questions there. Bring Chord and Dixie with you. We're going to need all the help we can get."

"Help with what?" August breathed. His voice no longer seemed to function properly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Saving the world of course."

* * *

 **I'm so excited to finally be back and writing Taryn's story again! It's gonna be great! :D I absolutely love writing Taryn's character. She's so sarcastic and fun to write. It's just great XD Thank you to everyone who's read any and/or all of it so far! I love ya all!**


	3. Chapter 3

When Sam had reassured me that we'd met before and she was there to help me, I allowed myself to believe her because I was desperate. I needed help and she'd offered it. Limping down the street now, heading toward what she'd referred to as the 'safe house', I was beginning to question my decision. I had no reason to trust her. How was I to know whether she was working for Iris or not? My memories were slowly beginning to return and from what I gathered, Iris wasn't my friend. Not by a long shot. Neither was Isis. But she was an entirely different kettle of fish. I couldn't figure her out. The last clear memory I had of Isis, was her telling me that she'd found a way to save the world and we had to work together to do it. What was that about?

The 'safe house' was nothing like what I was expecting. I'd been picturing something from the movies. You know, the whole 'house-falling-apart-in-the-middle-of-the-woods-where-no-one-would-think-to-look' thing. This place was nothing like that.

Nestled in the middle of a suburban street, it was one of those cookie-cutter houses. The ones that look identical to every other house on the block. It was brilliant actually. Who would think to look for a fugitive in a place like this? And even if they did, all the houses were identical across the next three streets. It was the ideal place to hide away.

I'd barely reached the front porch when the front door swung open. The last person I'd expect to see was standing there ready to greet me.

"Nope." I shook my head, turned on my heels and started walking back out toward the street.

"Taryn, wait." Isis called after me. Dressed in a simple white t-shirt tucked into a pair of skinny blue jeans, she almost looked normal. She rocked back and forth on her bare feet while she watched me.

I ignored her at first. I should have known it wasn't going to be that easy. Safety had just sounded so nice, I'd chosen to trust Sam. Now I was regretting that decision with everything I had.

"If you go out there alone, they'll kill you." Isis' words froze me in my tracks.

"And you won't?" I turned to glare at her. "I should have known this all was a trap. I think I'll take my chances out on the streets, thanks."

"Don't be stupid, Taryn. If you won't trust me, at least wait a few minutes. Your boyfriend should be on his way now. Sam told me she sent him in our direction."

That made me hesitate. My boyfriend? I had a boyfriend? That sounded nice. What would be even nicer? Being able to remember him. Was it that boy from the house? I'd felt a strong connection to him and he certainly seemed to know who I was.

I clenched my teeth and marched back up the path to the house. I brushed past Isis without a word. She chuckled lightly and followed me into the house. I wasn't sure if I'd made the right decision or not, but I needed answers and I was hoping the boy could give them to me.

The next half-hour was a little awkward. Isis looked almost as uncomfortable as I was to be alone in the same room.

"I don't know what to do with you when I'm not trying to kill you." Isis admitted, breaking the awkward silence with a slight laugh.

"And I'm usually kicking your butt," I shrugged, "it feels weird to be on the same team."

She smiled and studied her hands. It was weird to see her make such a normal gesture. She almost looked human.

"I don't get it. Why are we on the same side now? Doesn't your family hate my family? Shouldn't we be enemies? Why on earth would we ever work together?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I'm not allowed to say. At least not yet. I'm supposed to wait until Sam and the others get here."

"Why?"

She looked up at me again. She almost looked sheepish as she said, "Sam's afraid I'll scare you away. She wants to be here to make sure you fully understand what's going on. Apparently, she feels that I'm not very good with my words when it comes to explaining things."

"I second that." I muttered.

It was quiet for a minute before Isis spoke again. "Just how much do you remember?" She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees as she frowned at me.

I avoided making eye contact and shrugged. "Enough to know that I don't trust you at all. You've tried to kill me more times than I can count. If I remember correctly, you actually succeeded once."

"Yes, but I'm also the one who brought you back."

I finally met her eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? I think I'd rather stay dead. You didn't stop there, did you? A lot of it is hazy and I only remember bits and pieces, but I remember there was a lot of pain involved. For months. In a place I couldn't escape. Like a curse."

Her gaze dropped back down to study her hands. "Not 'like' a curse. It was a curse. Colton is cruel. Even I can see that. He's a sick jerk who enjoys watching others suffer."

"So he's not much different from you then." My words made her flinch but I couldn't bring myself to care.

"He's on a different level of crazy though. I'm convinced he's not even human. I'm ashamed to call him my brother."

"For a while, I was convinced you weren't human either. As much as you'd like to deny it, you really aren't that different than your brother."

"Do you see my brother here, trying to save the world?" Her head snapped back up to glare at me. "He doesn't care about anything other than his own sick desires. At least I'm trying to make a difference. I've done a lot of bad things in my life, but I'm trying to make up for it here. Don't compare me to the likes of him."

I raised an eyebrow. "No one just changes that drastically overnight. You're in this for something, I just haven't figured out what it is yet. I'm hoping once my memories come back completely, I'll be able to figure it out. But even if they don't, I'm not going to let you get away with it."

"Get away with what?" Isis demanded. "I just told you, I'm here to save the world. That's it. After that, I go home and you never see me again."

"As nice as that sounds, it's just not believable. You go from killing people for fun one day to saving the world the next? No one makes that kind of a one-eighty that fast. So what are you really doing here, Isis? You keep talking about saving the world. Why does the world even need saving? If I had to guess, it's because of something you and your sick, twisted family did."

Isis leapt to her feet and she probably would have slapped me if the front door hadn't opened right then. She reluctantly sank back into her chair and settled on glaring at me instead.

I subconsciously held my breath as I waited to see who would walk around that corner. A part of me hoped that it would be Sam. Suddenly the idea of facing the boy terrified me. I wasn't sure I was ready to handle the onslaught of emotions I knew being around him would cause.

"Relax, would you?" Isis scoffed. She crossed her legs and pushed her hair back out of her face. "It's only August. You two only know each other better than anyone else in this world. He's the last person you should be afraid of."

"Correction, he knows me better than anyone. I don't know him. Thanks to you." I threw in under my breath.

I released a sigh of relief when Sam stepped into the room. She looked around the room and sighed. "I had a feeling he wouldn't show up. He had no reason to believe me. I had hoped knowing that Taryn was here would be enough to bring him, but apparently he's too cautious for even that." She smiled sadly. "I suppose it's what has kept him alive up until now so I shouldn't complain. I'd only hoped I could count on him to join our counterattack. We could have used his help."

"Counter attack for what?" I asked. "No one tells me squat around here." I shot a glare at Isis.

"Really?" Sam crossed her arms over her chest like a disappointed mother. "You two are already fighting? You've been alone for forty-five minutes. Either you two learn to get along, or our cause is doomed."

Isis huffed and stuck her nose in the air. "I refuse to work with someone as selfish as her. She refuses to see anything but her own perspective."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Give her some slack, Isis. You did try to kill her. You're also part of the reason her memory is gone. She has reason to doubt you. I didn't expect trust to come that easily. That's something that will have to come with time. I did hope however, that the two of you could put your own feelings aside long enough to keep the world from crumbling."

"So why exactly is the world ending?" I asked. "What is it that we're trying to stop?"

"I'd like to know that too." Sam froze at the sound of the boy's voice. "Taryn raises some good questions and frankly I'm going to need them answered before I agree to help you. Better yet, those answers have better be good, or I'm not allowing Taryn to help you either."

I frowned. "Excuse you? Who are you to decide what I can and can't do?" I stood and stepped to the side so I could see the boy around Sam who was still frozen in the spot. "It's pretty clear you know me. Isis mentioned that we were even dating at one point, but the fact still remains that I have no idea who you are. Until I get my memories of you back, I'd appreciate it if you refrained from telling me what I'm allowed to do. Heck, even after my memories return, you won't be dictating my actions. Got it? News flash, I don't follow anyone's orders."

August smiled. "Believe me, I know."

Isis sighed, "Now that we've got that settled,"

Sam finally took a deep breath and turned to face August. "I'm glad you came. We can really use your help."

"Like I said before," he crossed his arms over his chest, "I'm going to need some answers before I agree to help."

"Of course." She nodded and ushered him into the room. "Did the others come with you? Or have you come alone?"

August took the seat next to mine. Suddenly, I wasn't so keen on sitting back down. "They're coming. Chord was waiting for Dixie to get home so he could fill her in."

My eyes lit up. "Chord? I know that name!"

August looked like I'd just hit him. "You remember him but not me?"

"Yeah! I mean," I quickly back-tracked when I saw his defeated expression, "I'm not sure why, but that name seems so familiar."

"Don't feel too badly." Isis cooed. "She lost her memories of you long before she lost all her other memories. Chord is simply fresher in her mind. She'll get to you eventually. In the meantime, you can try to win her love back the old-fashioned way."

"Would you all just shut up for a second?" Sam groaned.

I awkwardly perched on the couch next to August. He kept staring at me and it was starting to make me uncomfortable. I felt bad for the guy. I really did, but I wished he'd back off a bit.

"Here's the thing," Sam began.

"The world is ending." I jumped in. "We get it. Just tell us why already. Who's ending it?"

Sam looked like she was really trying hard not to yell at me. "You've probably already guessed, but Iris is behind it."

"Why doesn't that surprise me." August grumbled.

"Iris wants to return magic to the world."

"Doesn't magic already exist in the world?" I gestured at Isis. "We've got living proof right there. Heck, I'm living proof of that."

Isis grit her teeth. "She's talking about real magic. The true magic that was banned from the world during King Arthur's reign."

I wasn't sure if she was joking or not. "King Arthur? As in Pendragon? Knights of the Roundtable? With Excalibur and Merlin?"

"The one and only."

"He's just a myth. A legend. Neither he nor Merlin were ever real."

"Are you sure about that?" Isis countered. "He outlawed witchcraft and magic altogether right before he died. No one really knows why. Especially since he worked so closely with a wizard who dealt in the most powerful magic known to man. Anyway, he had Merlin cast a spell that ensured no one would ever be able to use magic in the mortal world again. My dear sister, Iris, wishes to break that spell. If she succeeds . . . let's just say it wouldn't be good. The world as it is today would not be ready for that kind of magic. It would fall apart. People would panic and probably go crazy. Well, crazier than they are now."

"Basically, all hell would break loose and there would be nothing we could do about it." I said.

Both Isis and Sam nodded.

"But why? If it would cause that much destruction, why would she want to do it?"

"Having magic and not being able to use it is maddening. Now that you have gained control over your own magic, in a few years you'll also understand. As strong as your magic is, you'll understand her pain better than anyone. I have to say, I do agree with my sister on a certain level. It gets tiring only using your magic in made up worlds. It's just not as fun."

"How is she planning on breaking a spell that strong?" August asked. I'd almost forgot he was there and I jumped a bit. "It's so old, it had to have been made with extraordinary power."

"There is one way to break a spell of that size. It's not easy, but it is possible." Sam said.

"Well?" I motioned for her to tell us. "Don't keep us in suspense."

"It's why she wanted you so badly, Taryn. It's why she helped you hone your skills as a witch. She needed your magic at its peak. It will take hundreds of witches and wizards all working together to break it, but with you helping, the number would have been greatly reduced. Some even believe you're strong enough to break it on your own. With you gone now though, it will take at least five hundred witches and wizards. Thankfully, that gives us a little time to work with. It will take Iris a while to gather that many. She's got a head start on us though so we need to start moving quickly."

"What can we do to stop it?" I asked.

"There's a goblet. The same one Merlin used to mix most of his incantations. It is the only thing powerful enough to withstand the spell. Without it, she can't cast the counter-spell. If we can find the goblet and destroy it, we win."

"So," August said slowly, "why can't Isis just take and destroy it on her own? Doesn't she live with Iris? You should know where it is, right?"

Isis shook her head. "Iris is careful. She doesn't trust anyone, including me. She has it hidden away. Concealed with magic. The only way to find it is with magic. But it'll take time. It's not an exact science."

I blew out a frustrated breath. "This is starting to sound like a lot of trouble."

"I know it sounds a bit far fetched and it's not going to be easy, but please." Sam begged. "Isis and I can't do this on our own. We need your help."

I turned to look at August. He still didn't look completely convinced, but he wasn't turning them down either. I nodded and turned back to Sam. "Alright, I'm in."

August cringed. "Then I guess I don't have a choice. I'm in too."

"You always have a choice." I told him.

"Not when you're involved. I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

"That's creepy."

He sighed. "I've lost you too many times already. I'm not letting you march into this mess without me."

I wasn't sure how to react. For the thousandth time I wished I remembered who he was. He looked vaguely familiar but that was about it. When I was around him though, I had a strong desire to hold his hand. I had to keep my clenched in my lap to keep from reaching out and grabbing his. I had no doubt we had something special at one point, but it felt wrong reaching out to him now.

"I don't need a bodyguard." I said.

"Get used to it, Taryn. He's not going to be leaving your side for a long while." I looked up to meet the eyes of two new people who'd just entered the room. One was a girl and the other was Chord. I'm not sure why I recognized his face, but it felt nice to know someone other than Isis.

I jumped to my feet and ran to give him a hug. He grinned and gladly returned it with just as much excitement.

"It's nice to see you again, Taryn." He spoke into my hair.

I squeezed him tight before letting go. "It's nice having someone here I actually know."

Dixie shot August a confused glance and suddenly I felt guilty again. I should probably know the girl too, but I didn't. I sighed and ran a hand across my face. I couldn't wait for my memory to fully return. It seemed without it, all I could manage to do was hurt the people around me. Whether or not I knew them, that was the last thing I wanted to do.

I smiled at both Dixie and August, hoping to appear friendly and not totally freaked out. "Let's see if we can cause a little damage, shall we?"


	4. Chapter 4

"That's your brilliant plan?" August demanded.

"This plan sucks." Chord concluded.

Dixie shrugged. "I think it could work."

"Thank you." Sam sighed.

I pointed an accusing finger at August. "You just don't like it because you're ridiculously over-protective."

He shrugged without a shred of remorse. "It's my job to keep you safe."

"Yeah?" I countered, folding my arms over my chest. "And how's that working for you so far?"

He faltered and I felt a little guilty but didn't back down. I didn't like how controlling he was being. I must have really loved him a lot to stay with someone as stubborn and annoying as he was. "Between you and Chord, how did I ever do anything?"

"You really didn't do much on your own." Dixie admitted.

Isis groaned. "If you all are done reliving the good ole days, I believe it's time to go. If we don't show up soon, Iris will start suspecting us and then we'll all be in trouble."

"She's right." Sam nodded. "We need to go."

"Come on, Taryn." Isis said. "We'll contact the rest of you when we can. In the meantime, I suggest you begin your search for the goblet. The sooner we find it, the better. Sam and I have told you all we know. It's not much but it gives you a starting point."

I stood from my seat and started to follow Isis and Sam out but August stopped me. I looked down at his hand on my arm and then back up at him.

"Just promise me you'll be careful." He pleaded. The desperation in his voice made me catch my breath.

All I could manage to do was nod. It took all of my willpower to break my gaze away from him. Everything about him was so intense.

"Alright then," Isis flounced out of the room and called over her shoulder, "let's do this!"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Come on, Taryn. She's right. If we don't go now, Iris will suspect something."

I nodded and followed her out. I could feel August's eyes on my back all the way. I sighed and watched the ground pass by beneath my feet. "Sam?"

"Hmm?"

"What's your son like?"

"August?"

I nodded and looked up to find her shrugging.

"To be honest, I don't know."

I cocked an eyebrow. "You don't know your own son?"

She laughed humorlessly. "It's a long story. The fact is, we've only just met today."

"And you're ok with just leaving him behind like that?"

"No, but he doesn't trust me either. Would you if you found out your mother was the sister to the enemy you've been battling for years?" She shook her head. "As much as I would love to be with him constantly, I would rather give him his space and allow him to trust me in his own time instead of forcing myself on him and making him hate me."

I let my eyes drop back down to the ground. "Oh."

"Why do you ask anyway?"

I shrugged. "I was hoping that if you could tell me something about him, I'd be able to remember everything. I hate being in the dark."

Sam smiled and looped her arm through mine. "I'm sure there's an antidote somewhere. I know what Iris used to wipe your memory, so maybe we can right it again."

"I doubt it. My memory has been tampered with so much there's probably not much to return."

"You have some memories, don't you?" Sam squeezed my arm reassuringly. "There's still hope. Don't give up so soon. And even if we can't, just think of it this way. You'll get to fall in love my son all over again. I can see it in your eyes, Taryn. You still have strong feelings for him, don't you?"

I didn't say anything but I knew she knew the answer.

"Don't be scared of them. You've got the advantage every girl dreams of having. You already know he loves you too. There's nothing holding you back but you."

I couldn't help the small smile that grew as we followed after Isis. It scared me sometimes how strong my feelings were but Sam was right. It was pretty evident he liked me. I had nothing to lose. But first, we had a villain to crush.

"It's good to see you all again. I was beginning to wonder if anything had happened to you." Iris greeted with a cold sneer.

She knew. Well, ok. Maybe she didn't know the whole truth, but she knew something was up and if we didn't persuade her otherwise, and fast, we were going to be in some big trouble.

"You mean other than the house blowing up around me? Nah, nothing happened." I snapped back at her.

She smirked. "Perhaps if you had not run back inside like a maniac, you wouldn't have been injured."

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared back at her. "Look, lady. Thanks to you, I don't remember much about anything. All I know are the orders I'm given and I was told to make sure the boy goes up in smoke. Well, guess what? The boy went up in smoke, thanks to me. You're welcome. Evie's magic was strong, but apparently not strong enough. If I hadn't gone back in, he would have escaped out the back door. Next time, why don't you try picking someone a little bit stronger in the magic department to do your bidding."

Beside me, Sam was holding her breath. Her side glance told me I probably should have kept my mouth shut, but I didn't care. I was tired of people trying to run my life. Especially this lady. She thought she knew everything about me? Well joke was on her. She might have all the info on the old me, but she knew nothing about the new me that she'd unwittingly created by stealing my memories.

"Don't mind her, Iris." Isis stepped in. "They did some more work on her mind at the hospital to reaffirm the blast did no damage to our work, and it appears it's having some side-effects."

Iris waved her off. "No matter how many times we wipe her slate clean, she will always continue to be a sarcastic brat."

I shrugged unapologetically. She wasn't wrong. That was a part of me she couldn't take away. Sarcasm and sass. My one solid line of defense.

"Iris?" Sam ventured cautiously. "May we speak in private for a moment?"

Iris turned a hateful gaze to her sister. "Anything you have to say can be said in front of everyone."

"Very well then. I believe my son is still alive."

I nearly choked. Was she crazy? Weren't we supposed to be playing up August's death? Had I missed something somewhere? Maybe their tampering had messed with my short-term memory too.

Iris raised a delicate eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

Sam hesitated. "When Taryn raised that barrier to protect herself, she may have inadvertently protected the boy as well. There was no evidence of his death at the house. It may just be that he had been completely incinerated in the heat of the flames, but I'm not sold on the idea."

Iris seemed to contemplate her words for a moment.

Isis looked like Sam had just slapped her across the face. I elbowed her in the ribs to snap her out of it. If Iris caught onto our shock, it wouldn't take long for her to pick out the lies.

"Perhaps you have a point. Keeping you around may not have been the worst idea yet." Iris turned on her heals and strode across the room. "I will send out a search party immediately. If he did survive, he will have been incredibly injured. It won't be hard to find him. My team will decide the finality of his death."

"What will your team do if they do find him?" Sam asked quietly.

Iris turned to her head and the corner of her lip twitched up into an evil sneer. "They'll finish the job of course." She turned back around and retrieved a small leather-bound book from the drawer in her desk. "In the meantime, I believe Taryn and I have some more work to do. Isis, Sam, go make yourselves useful elsewhere. It's best if Taryn and I work alone."

I swallowed hard but rolled my eyes as if I didn't care. "Wonderful. Alone time with the one person I know would just love to liquify my brains. This should be fun."

"Unless you would like your brains reduced to liquid, I suggest you shut up and follow me." Iris snapped.

I stuck my tongue out at her retreating back before following her into the small backroom where we did all of our practices. In order for her plan to work, she needed my magic at its peak, which meant countless hours of practice for me. I only had a few days left to master complete control over my magic before the plan was set to take motion. I was so not ready for this. On top of that, now I was going to have to try playing dumb and slow down my training a bit to hopefully push the plan back and give us a bit more time to work with. We were about to find out how good my acting was.

Apparently, my acting was pretty good because Iris never once suspected me. I'm not blonde, but I have to say, I play the part really well. The lessons were getting harder and though I understood them and could have mastered them if I'd tried, I'd played dumb. I made Iris give the same lesson three different times before I 'barely' managed to get it. Not to pat myself on the back but I killed that acting session.

Iris told me she didn't want to see my face for the rest of the day. She told me to get lost. I took her words seriously. Might as well play into the whole 'dumb blonde' thing I had going for me. I managed to get out of the house undetected and carefully avoided the security cameras I knew she had hidden everywhere. I'd snuck into the security room last week and memorized where every camera was. I'd managed to sneak out twice since then. It was a good feeling knowing I could do it.

Normally, I would use my time outside the walls to find someplace secluded to hide. Somewhere I could be by myself and not worry about anyone finding me. Today was a bit different. I decided to try and find the others. Sam had said that the safe house was no longer safe so they wouldn't be there. I wasn't completely positive as to where they would be, but I knew the general location. We hadn't finished going over the plan completely before Isis, Sam and I left and I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. I preferred going into this with everyone having full knowledge of what was going on.

I didn't get very far before I heard someone call my name. My heart dropped and I slowly turned toward the voice. I wasn't sure who it was, but it didn't really matter. I'd been caught. I was so screwed.

I was met with a sight I really didn't expect to see. It was Chord. What the heck was he doing here? I was in the middle of town. Weren't we supposed to be keeping a low profile? *then what are you doing in town?* I silently berated myself.

"Chord?"

He reached me and dramatically fell forward, resting his hands on knees and breathing heavily. "Hey, Taryn."

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I could ask you the same question." He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Sam contacted me. She couldn't leave without Iris noticing so she called me. August wouldn't answer her calls. He's still salty at her for not coming forward earlier."

I frowned and shook my head in confusion. "Why would Sam send you after me? How does she even know I'm gone?"

"They're tracking you." He said it as if it were a common thing for people to be monitored everywhere they went. I on the other hand, didn't like that idea very much.

"What do you mean, 'they're tracking you'?"

"You've been chipped. Yeah, apparently they've been tracking every move you make. It seems when you 'escaped' today, you didn't take your usual route. It's beginning to worry Iris. I was sent to come turn you around before they send a search party."

I was fuming. No one had bothered to tell me that they were tracking me? No wonder Sam said the others wouldn't be at the safe house any longer. It wouldn't be safe there anymore. Iris knew where it was because of me. I let out a cry of frustration and threw my hands in the air. "This is ridiculous! And no one bothered to say anything? Don't you think I should have known?"

Chord put his hands up in a peace offering. "Don't look at me. I didn't know until about ten minutes ago."

"Ten minutes?" My eyes lit up. "Then you guys must be staying somewhere close by."

Chord cringed. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"Technically, you didn't tell me anything. I figured it out."

He shrugged. "Either way, I'm in so much trouble."

"Why shouldn't I know where the safe house is?"

"Like I know why anyone does anything around here. No one tells me anything." Chord admitted with a sigh.

"Welcome to my life." I muttered under my breath. "Fine, I'll head back. I don't want anyone getting into trouble because of me."

Chord smiled and stuck his hand up for a high five. I half-heartedly slapped his hand. His fingers locked around mine, trapping my hand in his. "Let me walk you. You look like you could use some company."

I gave him a grateful smile.

"Are you doing ok?" He asked after a while of walking in silence.

I took a deep breath and shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I just wish I knew what was going on. It seems everyone's keen on keeping me in the dark. The only people I know are the enemies. Everyone else seems to know me, but I don't know them. August scares the crap out of me because every time I'm around him, I can barely contain my emotions. I'm still not sure if I can even trust Sam and Isis completely because from what I'm piecing together, they haven't exactly been friendly to us the whole time. On the other hand, I don't have a choice but to trust them because I have no one else at Iris' place." I sighed and squeezed Chord's hand a little tighter. "You know what? I guess I'm not doing ok. I just want all of this to be over. I want my memory back and I want my friends back."

Chord didn't say anything for a moment. We walked in silence and I was starting to worry I'd scared him off. "You've got me." He said finally. "I'm here and you remembered me on your own. That's something. I mean, I did try to eat you once but we moved past that a while ago. You can trust me now. I'm your friend."

"Thanks, Chord." I managed a small smile.

"As for August, I can tell him to back off if you need me to. He won't like it, but if he knows it's for your own good, he'll do it. He really loves you, you know? Well I guess you wouldn't, but he does. He talks about you all the time. From everything I've heard, you two had a pretty special bond."

Why would anyone like me that much? How could anyone love someone like me? I was a mess. It didn't make a lot of sense. He must have been a little messed up in the head. I could see how I'd fallen for him though. He seemed to be really smart and emotional. He wasn't afraid to show his emotions or how he felt toward me. From what I'd seen, he was a bit over-protective, but even that was charming. He wasn't bad to look at either.

"You're thinking about him, aren't you?" Chord asked with a knowing grin.

"What? Pfft. No." I quickly denied his accusations but he didn't believe me.

"You keep smiling and blushing. You're definitely thinking about him."

I scrunched my nose up at him, unable to deny it. "Shut up."

He laughed. "It's ok. It'll make him happy knowing that you still react that way. He's been really worried about what's going to happen to you two."

I bit my lip to try and keep from smiling. "I should probably go on alone from here. We're almost to the house and I don't want you getting caught."

Chord nodded. "You're probably right." He released my hand and pulled me into a hug instead. "Be careful in there, Taryn. I'll see you later." Before I could react, he was sprinting back down the street the way we'd come.

I sighed and looked back in the direction of the house. I wasn't thrilled to be going back, but it seemed I didn't have a choice. One way or another, I was going to get this stupid chip out of me. I hated knowing that I was being tracked. Any small sense of freedom I'd had was just ripped from me and I wasn't going to stand for it. Iris thought she could control me life? Well she was wrong. No one controlled my life but me and she was about to find that out the hard way.

* * *

 **sorry for the late updates! it's been a little crazy trying to get back into the swing of fall routines. updates should start being posted regularly again :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry these chapters are taking so long to get up. I've been going through some stuff in my personal life and I haven't been overly motivated but I promise I won't quit this story! I will finish it even if it takes me a while to do it :)**

* * *

"Where is the chip?" I demanded in a burst of anger.

"I'm not telling you." Sam said firmly. I'd cornered her in an empty room after I'd gotten back. I couldn't stand knowing that this thing was inside me.

"Why not?" My voice rose with my anger and Sam quickly tried to shush me.

"Because I know you'll do something stupid like tear into your own skin to get it out." She replied simply.

I scoffed. "I'm not that stupid."

"No," she said carefully, "but you are that desperate."

I bit my tongue. She was right. I probably would have ended up doing something stupid if she didn't agree to help take it out right away, which she'd made clear she wasn't prepared to do. I sighed in defeat and fell down into the armchair. "This sucks."

"Tell me about it." Sam rolled her eyes. "Look, Taryn. It's no walk in the park for us either. Having you tracked like this makes our job ten times more difficult, but there's nothing we can do about it. If we want to see this through to the end, we'll have to continue to play the part. We'll just have to work around this set back."

"I hate this so much." I didn't know what else to say. Sam was right. Now was not the time to be tipping Iris off to anything. I was just going to have to live with the knowledge I was being watched 24/7.

Sam sighed. "I know, and I'm sorry. This will all be over before you know it."

"Yeah sure," I said sarcastically, "providing our plan actually works. From what little I do remember though, our plans never run quite that smoothly. Something always goes wrong."

"Have a little faith." Sam smiled over at me. "Tomorrow, you'll sneak out just like you always do. You'll head to the same spot you always go. That way, Iris won't suspect anything. I'll have someone there waiting for you. You'll only have forty-five minutes, so use your time wisely. Everything needs to be normal or Iris will catch on."

I rolled my eyes. "Can't we just whack her in the head and call it a day? I'm sick of sneaking around."

"I wish it was that easy."

"Why can't it be? She's the head of the snake right? We've got her in our grasp. Just take her out now. Then we won't have to deal with all of this."

Sam shook her head. "Iris has a fail-safe ready in case anything happens to her. If she goes out for any reason, and the others initiate the back-up plan, we're done for. Stopping Iris won't actually accomplish anything."

"Oh good. I love when things get more complicated. I was just thinking to myself how boring everything was becoming."

Sam rolled her eyes at me. "Shut up and get going Taryn. You're going to be late for you lesson with Iris."

"Oh yeah, that. Remind me again why she's upped the lessons to twice a day? I could barely handle the afternoon with her. Now I have to suffer through the evening spent in her glorious presence? I hate my life." Without waiting for Sam's reply, I continued to grumble to myself as I shuffled out the door. I was so over all of this.

Sam's voice called out to me from the doorway, stopping my feet from carrying me any further. "Come find me after your session." She hesitated a moment, wringing her hands together. "I may have found something that can help with your memory."

My eyes lit up. A smile slowly grew until it reached both my eyes. Something that hadn't happened in a while. I found myself sprinting off toward the training room, waving back at Sam excitedly. I was suddenly anxious to get this training session over with. I was more than ready to get my memory back, no matter what it took. I was sick and tired of constantly being in the dark. I was ready to be back in charge of my own life again.

"I'm not positive this will even work." Sam said for the fifth time in the last ten minutes.

I rolled my eyes and motioned for her to move along. "It's worth a try. I'll try anything to be back to normal."

"I know, and that's what worries me. The side-effects of doing this could cause you some serious harm."

I brushed the comment off with a huff. "At this point, I don't care about side-effects. It can't be any worse than what Iris is putting me through now. I just got through a two hour training session on how to 'withstand an attack'. Iris literally tied me to a post and cast every spell she could at me while telling me that I had to fight through it. Parts of my body hurt that I didn't even know I had. Whatever your little potion does to me can't be any worse."

Sam was still hesitant but brought the small vial over. "I'm not a witch. I was born without my sisters' abilities, but I had Isis help me. Potions are her specialty. Well, that and poisons."

"Great," I replied sarcastically, "so I'll either become magically cured, or I'll end up dead on the floor." I shrugged. "Let's do this."

She frowned at me response, clearly not approving of my reaction. She handed me the vial anyway. "It's going to taste pretty bad."

"Bottoms up." Before I could lose my nerve, I tipped my head back and downed the entire thing in one gulp. My throat burned and I immediately started coughing. My tongue hung from my mouth in disgust after I'd gained control of my coughing fit and I muttered a garbled, "That worse than drinking orange juice right after brushing your teeth."

The liquid burned all the down until it settled in my stomach where it felt like a fire had erupted. I groaned and clutched at my stomach, falling from my chair and landing on the floor with a thud. Sam gasped and fell to her knees beside me. She looked scared to touch me, like maybe she'd cause me more pain if she did. To be honest, I wasn't sure if she would or not. I didn't understand what was going on, but if it meant regaining my memory, than it was worth it, right? I didn't know what I expected. Maybe a sudden wave of memories hitting me like a brick to the face? Or maybe a steady flow of memories as they all returned to my brain and I would suddenly remember who everyone was, including myself. Instead, all I got was a big pile of nothing.

"I knew I shouldn't have given you that potion." Sam chided herself as she helped me back up into my seat after my writhing had stopped.

I shook my head. "No, I'm glad you did. I'm not dead, see?" I managed to lift my head up to look her in the eye and forced a pained smile. Tears stung my eyes but I refused to cry anymore. I was done with feeling weak. I could handle this. Something in my gut told me I'd been through worse. "I didn't end up dead on the floor, so I guess that means Isis didn't poison me."

"No, but I should have." Isis appeared in the doorway just then. She eyed me with a mixture of disgust and pity. "Iris is looking for you. If I'm right, which I am, she's going to want to test your abilities. If they're strong enough, which they are, it means she can move ahead with her plans. You have to play dumb. Downplay your magic. Don't let her know just how strong you've gotten."

If I hadn't been so delirious from the pain, I would have said she sounded a little scared of my abilities. I smirked at the thought. I had been getting stronger in my magic. I was almost to the point where I was able to control it completely without it accidentally spiraling out of control and injuring someone. I called that an accomplishment.

"You should also know that the potion will begin working slowly from now on. Your memories will be coming back to you, but do not, under any circumstances allow Iris to catch on to that. If she found out you were regaining your memories of her, she wouldn't hesitate to kill you."

I frowned up at her, still clutching my aching stomach. "What exactly is it that I'm going to be remembering?"

Isis only smiled coyly and left the room.

Sam rubbed a frustrated hand across her face. "Isis is right. You can't let Iris know what's going on. This is such bad timing. Why does she have to test you now?"

I grit my teeth and pushed myself back up on my feet. "Have a little faith in me, would you? My poker face has gotten pretty good over the years. I think I can handle myself. Also, I'm told I play the 'dumb blonde' role very well. I'll be fine." I didn't wait for her response. I stood up straight, doing my best to ignore the burning in my stomach and strode through the door, following after Isis.

Iris was waiting for us at the entrance of the mansion. No memories were returning yet, but the pain was finally beginning to recede. Isis nodded once to her sister before turning around and walking back inside, leaving me alone with the deranged woman. I made a show of sighing dramatically and rubbing my head as if to ease a headache. It wasn't far from the truth. An image was slowly starting to form in my mind and although it wasn't necessarily painful, it was hard to concentrate on anything else as the memory surfaced.

"We've already had two training sessions today," I complained, "do we really have to have another one now? I was just about to take a shower."

Iris clenched her jaw to keep from snapping at me. "You are not here for more training." A smile slowly formed on her lips. "Quite the opposite actually."

I raised an eyebrow in speculation. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I believe you have begun to progress in your talents. Your magic has been growing steadily. It is time to test just how far you've come."

I wrinkled my nose at her wording. "Tests. I don't like those. They stress me out. At least I think they do. I wouldn't know for sure since someone stole all my memories."

Iris sighed. "As I've explained before, it was for your own good. Your past would have destroyed you. We wouldn't be standing here having this ridiculous conversation if I hadn't saved you from yourself." She didn't look thrilled to be having this conversation again.

I shrugged off her bitter tone, no longer allowing it to intimidate me. She'd stolen a part of me and I had a right to want to know why. "For my own good? I bet you didn't even give me a choice, did you? You just went ahead and took all my memories, even the good ones and left me empty. How was that supposed to make me better?"

"Enough. We are no longer talking about this." I wanted to argue but the look on her face made me stop. Pushing her any further probably wasn't a good idea. "It is time to begin your test."

"What exactly is this test?"

"I will cast a spell and you'll need to break it. It's simple really. We'll start with a simple spell and work our way up." She shrugged as if it were no big deal. I'm only testing to see how far you can go."

"And if I can't?"

"We up your lessons to three times a day until you're able to reach the levels we need you at."

I swallowed hard and nodded. I was supposed to blow this test, which meant I was about to turn my life into a living hell. I could barely stand one session with her. Two was like living a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. Three a day was going to kill me.

Iris' smile was anything but friendly. She retrieved a large stone from her bag and tossed it a few feet in front of her. I watched as it slowly rolled toward my feet before spinning to a stop a few inches away.

"The stone has a protection spell surrounding it. Your job is to break the spell and bring the stone to you."

Sure it sounded easy enough, but breaking a spell wasn't exactly easy. I barely made it through that training session alive. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I could sense the spells magic at my feet. It wasn't very strong. I sighed in relief, realizing that I wouldn't have to put much effort in to break it. Something made me freeze before I broke it though. Iris was smart. She would have picked up on the fact that my magic was getting stronger. I'd never had anything to compare my own magic too so I wasn't sure just how strong it had gotten, but she did. What if she'd started with a more complicated spell to test me? If I broke it too easily, that would give me away instantly. Yet, if this was one of her easy spells, and I took too long to break it, she'd easily pick up on the fact that I was lying. I decided on something in between, making sure to emphasize the effort I was putting in.

The spell broke and the stone flew up into my hands. I opened my eyes to find her disappointed ones glaring back at me.

"A spell of that size should not have taken that much effort to break." She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I thought you were progressing. and yet all you seem to do is fall backwards. I'm beginning to wonder if you will ever be strong enough to carry out your mission."

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling, yet it had nothing to do with her. The new memory had finally surfaced fully. August, and the night we finally confessed our feelings for each other.

 _August led me out onto the terrace, saying he didn't want to dance anymore. I scoffed at his refusal to try anything new, but I couldn't keep the grin off my face._

 _He let go of my hand and went to the edge of the balcony. His hands grasped the edge as he leaned into it. "There's something I have to tell you. I just wish I didn't look like this when I say it." He said finally._

 _I had sat down on the small stone bench to rest my foot and I looked up to face him. "What is it? And you look fine. Honestly, you get used to it after a while."_

 _He breathed a nervous laugh and then let out a slow breath. He turned and walked over to take a seat beside me. "Taryn," he started nervously._

" _Yes, August?" I prompted._

" _We've gotten closer over the past two weeks. Wouldn't you agree?" When I nodded, he continued, stumbling over his words as he went. "I want you to know that I wouldn't trade these past few weeks for anything in the world. My feelings for you have grown immeasurably . . . I -"_

 _I abruptly stood up, cutting him off short._ _I could guess where this conversation was going and I wasn't sure if I was strong enough to hear it and not break. I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart. Somewhere deep down inside, there was a part of me that had waited my whole life to have a man like August say those three words to me. But the fear overrode that._

 _"Taryn? What's wrong?" August asked, bringing my attention back to him. I turned to face him. "Are you crying?"_

 _"No, I'm not crying." I said firmly, wiping at my eyes to make sure._

 _"Well you're close to it. What's the matter?" He asked gently._

 _I closed my eyes, willing myself to calm down. This was August we were talking about. He wouldn't hurt me. Of course, that's what every other man in my family said before they left their wife and kids on their own._

 _"There's something I need to tell you. Part of the reason we're stuck in this curse." I took a deep breath before continuing. "My family is cursed."_

 _He gave me a 'are you serious' look. "In case you haven't noticed. We're in a curse. Right now."_

 _"Not this curse. A different curse. One that's a whole lot worse."_

 _August looked at me with confusion. "What are you talking about?"_

 _So I told him. I told him the whole story and how I had vowed never to fall in love or get married. He stayed quiet, listening as I let it all out. "August, these past few weeks have been amazing, but they've also scared me. I can't ignore that I have feelings for you and that terrifies me. I have no way of knowing if they're fabricated by my family's curse or if they're real. I have no way of knowing that if we grow any closer that you'll just up and leave. What's to say that I won't ever see you again after we get out of this curse?" I was pacing now, my sentences coming out in a rush. "If I let you in, who's to say that you won't break my heart like every other man in my family?"_

 _"Taryn." August's voice cut me off. When I continued to pace, he reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me to him. "Taryn." He repeated. The sound of my name on his lips sent shivers down my spine, the kind that makes you feel alive, like you could do anything. "I'm not one of those men. I'm not going to leave as soon as we find a way out of here. I know that my feelings for you are as real as you and me. I'm not going to break your heart. You just have to trust me enough to let me in."_

 _I looked up into his gorgeous green eyes and was immediately lost. Suddenly, he changed, right before my eyes. He was no longer a beast, but a man. The man that I had fallen in love with. We mere inches apart, the tips of our shoes touching. I wanted nothing more than to close the distance between us._

 _"I love you, Taryn Bauer, and I would never do anything to hurt you. You have to believe me." He said with desperate emotion._

 _"Promise?" I breathed._

 _"Promise."_

Suddenly, I was desperate to find August. I needed to see him. I was quickly overwhelmed with emotions and feelings I hadn't felt in a long time. It was like taking a breath of fresh air. I felt so guilty for having not remembered him. How could I have forgotten the greatest boyfriend in the world?

Iris had me do it one more time, but this time my mind was too preoccupied to do anything. Eventually, she threw her hands up in the air in frustration and gave up on me. I smirked as she marched back into the mansion, mumbling about idiot little witches with no talent.

More memories were beginning to form. Some were better than other, but most involved August. I was a little surprised to find out we actually hated each other at one point but I was beyond relieved to know we'd worked it out and managed to fall in love. He was the best part of my life and suddenly I just needed to see him.

I sprinted back into the mansion to find Sam. She'd know where he was. I needed to see him, but more importantly, I needed to apologize for everything I'd said to him. I needed him to know that I still loved him, that I was sorry for ever forgetting him and that I was never going to push him away again.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm really sorry about the long wait but I hope you enjoy this next chapter! Things are finally starting to get interesting ;)**

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To say Sam was a little surprised by my sudden outburst would have been an understatement. I found her in the kitchen, a warm cup of tea in her hands. I quickly made sure no one was around before shouting her name a little louder than I'd meant to.

She spun around so fast, she dropped the mug. Tea and pieces of glass spraying in every direction. "Taryn?"

I marched toward her, completely disregarding the broken glass on the floor. "August. He needs to be at the meeting."

"What?"

"You heard me. I need to see him. Now." I didn't mean to sound so angry, but my emotions were running wild and I wasn't sure how to manage them all.

"What are you going on about? And step away from the broken glass." Sam said sternly, holding up her hand to stop my approach.

I froze and looked down at my bare feet that were now bleeding from walking across the glass shards. Why had I ditched my shoes at the front door? The one time I actually try to be considerate to the house rules and this is what happens. I sighed and stepped back off the glass.

Taking a deep breath I tried to keep my voice steady as I said, "Look, some memories have surfaced. They carried with them some significant emotions that I was not prepared for and until I can get them all sorted out I'm going to be a bit unstable. Bear with me here. All I know for certain right now is that I need to see August. Please tell me we can make this happen?"

She must have heard the desperation that I'd been trying so hard to hide. Carefully stepping through the mess of broken glass, Sam crossed the kitchen to where the broom was kept. We were both silent as she swept up the glass. Sam only broke the silence once the floor had been rid of the harmful shards and the broom was back in its place. She turned to me and patted the counter, indicating that I should have a seat.

Slightly reluctantly, I complied. Reaching into the drawer next to where I was sitting, she pulled out a clean rag and dampened it with some tap water. "August isn't supposed to be with the party who will be meeting with you. He's been assigned to a different task."

I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything stupid. Of course he'd be assigned somewhere else. It would have been too easy if I'd been able to see him just like that. From the bits I was remembering, our relationship had never been that easy.

Sam continued as she carefully cleaned the blood from my feet. "It was actually his idea. He didn't want to face you again. He didn't think he could." She looked up from where she was kneeling and met my eyes with a firm stare. "He loves you a lot. To be around you while you had no idea who he was, it was more than he could handle." She reverted her gaze back to my feet. "I might not know him, but he is my son. If I have the chance to protect him, you better believe I'm going to take it. If having him around you is going to cause him pain, then I won't do it. I'll keep giving him the jobs he's requesting to stay away from you. I won't force him to see you."

I clenched my fists, trying hard to remain calm. I could see where she was coming from. If roles had been reversed, I wasn't sure I'd be able to be around August, but things were different now. I remembered him. I remembered every feeling I've ever had for him. Including the hate I felt toward him in the beginning. Maybe I was being selfish, but I needed him here now because I couldn't live with the guilt that I'd completely blown him off like that.

I slid off the counter and knelt down in front of her so we were eye level. "Sam, listen to me. I wasn't kidding when I said my emotions were running wild. I have very little control over them right now so I'm going to try really hard not to punch you in the face for saying that."

Sam smirked and rolled her eyes, knowing very well that I would never hit her.

"I understand where you're coming from. If our roles were reversed, I would have wanted to protect him too, but hear me out. If you let him come with the party this one time, I promise things will be different. I won't hurt him again."

"How much do you remember?"

My face unconsciously burned red. "Enough."

Her eyes narrowed. "What is that supposed to mean? What exactly have you and my son been up to?"

My eyes nearly bulged out of my head when I realized what she was implying. "No! No, that's not what I meant. Gosh, woman! Who do you think I am? I have self respect you know."

Sam actually let out a small chuckle at my expense. "Alright. I'll see what I can do. I won't force August to do anything. If he says he doesn't want to go, I won't make him." She told me firmly.

I leapt forward and wrapped my arms around her with a yelp of excitement. "Thank you, Sam! You won't regret this, I promise! I won't let you down."

Sam let out a soft laugh. "You better not. Now go get ready. You're supposed to leave in an hour."

I leapt to my feet and raced out of the room. I was on cloud 9. I was going to see August. Finally. Things were finally starting to turn around.

Of course, nothing could be that easy. Despite Sam's warnings, I left a few minutes earlier than I would have normally left. I couldn't help it. If I had stuck around any longer I would have exploded. It took everything I had not to run as fast as I could all the way there. Instead, I kept my feet at a fast walk. I hurried through the side streets until I reached the edge of the trees. Looking to make sure no one was following, I slipped into the shadows that the densely packed trees provided. Just on the other side was a small clearing with a small pond in the center. The area had become my safe-haven. No one could see me there. No one knew where I was. Or so I had thought. Now the place felt just as much of a prison as any other place.

I was just nearing the clearing when I heard someone approaching behind me. I waited a few more strides before turning around, hoping that my ears were simply playing tricks on me. Unfortunately, as I turned my head to look behind me, I saw a man stalking me. If I was smart, I would have tried to shake him off my tail. I knew these trees well enough. It would have been fairly easy to do it. Over the years though I think we've all established that when it comes to these situations, I'm not exactly the brightest. As it was, I recognized his face. He was one of the wizards Iris had been working with. Since I recognized him, it only meant that he knew exactly who I was. I was so screwed.

"Oh," I groaned, slipping back into my old sarcastic defenses, "it's you."

"You shouldn't be out here." He sneered. "I have a feeling Iris wouldn't be too keen on you being outside all alone."

"But I'm not alone." I pointed out matter-of-factly. "I'm standing here talking to you. Anyone could plainly see that I am not on my own."

He snorted at my retort. "I don't know how Iris puts up with you. I've never met a girl with a brattier mouth. Since you've so kindly pointed out that you are in fact not alone, you won't mind coming with me. I believe it's time to return you to Iris."

I shook my head. "No can do. See, I have places to go and people to see. But don't worry," I quickly assured him, "Iris will know exactly where I am all the time. You don't need to fret your ugly little head about that."

His face turned a bright tomato red as his anger and frustration grew. His hand snapped up and grabbed my upper arm in a steely grip. "You're coming with me whether you like it or not, young lady."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, attempting to shake his hand off my arm. "I really hate bossy men. You think just because you're bigger than me, you can push me around. Well guess what, buddy, I might be smaller than you, but I'm also smarter. Did Iris happen to mention that she's been helping me with my magic? It's actually grown quite strong. Want to know another little secret?" I leaned in closer to him as if I had something important to say. "My magic is a little different than most of yours. See, mine's unique. Which means I can do - this." As I spoke the last word, I sent a jolt of electricity from my arm into his hand, forcing him to release his hold on me.

His eyes darted between me and his now burnt hand, too shocked to say anything.

I smirked and turned on my heels. "Tell Iris I'll be back soon. Don't worry, I'll be back in time for dinner. Where's there's food, I will be."

I expected the wizard to follow after me and demand that I return with him. Instead, I turned to look behind me, only to find that he'd disappeared. He'd actually left without me. I smiled, proud of myself for avoiding the confrontation and quickened my stride. With that delay the others were probably already at the meeting spot. If I didn't hurry, I might not make it before they left. The rule was, if I didn't show up within ten minutes from when they did, they were to assume something happened and I wasn't going to be there. I had to make it before then. I just had to.

I didn't get far before a hand clamped against my mouth and I was being pressed against a hard chest. The man lowered his head and whispered into my ear, his hot breath washing over my face in an unpleasant wave of heat. I recognized his voice as the same wizard I thought I'd ditched before. "You shouldn't have run away, but I'm glad you did. Let's see Iris destroy us all with you out of the way."

A cloth came up to cover my nose and mouth. I'd never actually seen it used in real life, but I'd watched enough movies to know what was happening. No matter how much I thrashed around and pushed against his hold on me, I couldn't break free. For once, I wished I was back inside the curse. Somehow knowing this was real life made the situation even more terrifying. Against my will, my eyes began to drift shut. My delusional brain conjured up the only person I wanted to see right then. As my eyes finally closed, I could have sworn I saw August running toward me, but I knew that wasn't true. More than likely, he was already at the designated meeting place and would have no idea of what was going on over here. I was on my own and I was losing. The man laughed as my mind slipped into the darkness.

August was chomping at the bit to leave. The only reason he wasn't already at that meeting place was because of Dixie. She kept insisting they wait to leave until the very last minute so as not to raise suspicion.

"But Sam said-"

"-that she's remembering everything. Yes, I know." Dixie sighed, running a frustrated hand across her forehead. "I get that you're ecstatic, August, but we still have to follow orders. Going there too soon could blow not only our cover, but Taryn's too. If her cover is blown, then it's all over for her. Which means we stay put until the time that Sam told us to leave."

August huffed and fell down onto the couch. He was well aware that he was acting like a child, but he couldn't help it. He'd just heard from his mother that his girlfriend was finally able to remember him. Anyone with half a brain would have been excited over that news. Dixie was right though. He was going to have to be patient. Taryn's life was on the line and that was something he wasn't willing to compromise. His own excitement would have to take a step back for the moment.

When it finally was time to leave, August led the way, practically running to reach their destination. No one tried to stop him. Not even Dixie. He was grateful for it. He wouldn't have stopped even if they wanted him to.

They were nearing the area where they were meant to meet Taryn when August was met with a sight he wasn't expecting. The first thing that registered in his shocked mind was that it was Taryn. Immediately a smile formed on his lips until he realized what was going on. Taryn wasn't alone. In fact the person she was with had her locked in a hold as they brought a cloth from their back pocket and placed it over her mouth. She continued to struggle against him, but the man was far too large. Her attempts were useless against him. Her movements were quickly becoming sluggish and her eyes were slowly closing.

August snapped himself out of his shocked state and raced toward them, calling out Taryn's name. The man's head snapped up and his eyes landed on August's fast approaching form. The man abandoned the cloth now that Taryn had fully passed out, and slung her over his shoulder. Without another moment of hesitation, the man spun on his heels and tore off away from August.

August grit his teeth and chased after him, determined not to lose Taryn. He couldn't lose her again. Not now. Not when he was so close.

He could hear Dixie and the others behind him, but he didn't pay them any attention. His full focus was on the man in front of him. As the man was carrying extra weight with him, August was faster and it wasn't long before he'd caught up. Mentally apologizing to Taryn for what he was about to do, August leapt forward, wrapping his arms around the man's knees and sending all three of them crashing to the ground.

Taryn landed in a heap underneath the man and August waisted no time pushing him off of her. Up close, the man was a lot bigger than August had originally thought. It was going to be a challenge to fight him if that was the road the man decided to take.

To August's surprise, the man actually started chuckling to himself. "You're either really brave, or really stupid, Kid. Not many people would have the guts to attack a wizard like that."

August's eyes widened in realization of what was going on. This whole situation just became a whole lot more complicated. He silently cursed himself and his bad luck. It seemed Taryn's reputation for having the worst luck ever was starting to rub off on him. "I can't let you take her." His voice was even but firm. He tried to keep it from shaking with the barely contained rage he felt inside at the mere thought of this man taking her.

"Yeah?" The man smiled in amusement. "And who's going to stop me? You?"

August only glared back at him, knowing that he didn't stand a chance alone against a wizard.

"That's what I thought." The man brushed himself off and strode back over by Taryn. Leaning down, he brushed the hair off her face which had grown surprisingly pale. "Such a shame. She really is a pretty little thing. If only she'd learn to cooperate, we wouldn't have to reduce to using these measures."

"Get your filthy hands off of her." August grit his teeth as he tried to refrain from ripping this guy's head off.

The man looked up at him, amused. "As of right now, this girl is my property and I'll do as I please. Lucky for you, I have no ill intentions. I simply wish to bring her back so we can finish what we started. You see, as much as I'd like to do this without her, Iris' plan won't work if she's not there."

August was about to punch the guy in the face when he heard someone shout his name. He turned to find Dixie and the other two men who'd accompanied them, racing toward him. When he turned back around, the man and Taryn were both gone. Panic swarmed in his chest until he could barely breath. He'd only looked away for a second. How had he gotten away so quickly? Where were they going? What exactly was it that they were planning to do to Taryn? August had so many questions and no answers.

"Who was that?" Dixie panted once she'd reached him.

"He has Taryn." Was August's only reply. He began marching through the trees, following the path the man had been taking before August had tackled them to the ground.

"Who has Taryn?" Dixie scrambled after him, trying desperately to catch her breath.

"The wizard. He said he was only taking her to Iris, but-" he couldn't finish the sentence. The wizard had been lying. August was sure of it. Or at least hiding something. August had a feeling it wasn't in Taryn's best interests either. He had to find them, and fast.

Dixie grabbed August's arm and spun him around to face her. Her eyes were narrowed as she glared up at him and her hands were planted firmly on her hips. "Tell me exactly what's going on. We aren't moving another step until you do."

August sighed and ran a frustrated hand across his face. They didn't have time for this! But knowing Dixie, she wasn't going to let him follow after them until she got what she wanted. So he begrudgingly told her everything in the shortest version possible without leaving anything out.

"We need to contact Sam to make sure Taryn actually shows back up there. If she doesn't, then we'll know there's trouble." Dixie said. It was apparent that she was thinking a bit more clearly than August was.

"And if she isn't there?" August asked, almost cautiously.

"Then we go after her. Screw protocol. Taryn's life is more important than stopping Iris."

"Really?" One of the men behind Dixie cocked an eyebrow. "One life over millions?"

August spun on him so fast, the man didn't know what hit him until he was sprawled out on the ground. "Never, let me hear you speak about Taryn like that again or you'll be getting more than a punch to the face. Taryn's life is worth ten of yours."

"August." Dixie cautioned, stepping up to lay a hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged it off. Turning on his heals, he began jogging back the way they'd come. His cell phone was waiting in the car. He prayed with everything in him that Taryn was going to be ok. She just had to be.

Once he reached the car, he wasted no time plugging in Sam's number. It rang three times before she finally picked up. "August? What are you calling for? Shouldn't you be meeting up with Taryn?"

"A wizard found her in the woods. He knocked her out and took her away. Is she back there with you yet?" August voice was rushed and he wasn't sure all his words were coming out fully formed but he couldn't help it. He could barely breathe let alone talk properly.

Sam was silent on the other end for so long that August thought they'd been disconnected. He was about to check when he heard her say softly, "She's not here and her tracker has been removed. I don't know where she is."


	7. Chapter 7

**It's been so long! I had a bunch of side projects I wanted to get done over the holidays but I promise, this story is once again my priority! Even if no one reads this, I'm still going to finish it because I'm invested in Taryn's story XD if you are reading this, then thank you so much for putting up with me and my crazy lifestyle that often prevents me from writing. You're the real MVP. Anyway, ik this isn't the longest chapter but I wanted to get something out for you as soon as I could :) hope you enjoy!**

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I'd been in plenty of compromising positions before. Death and I were old acquaintances. Heck, I'd died before. Knowing my life was in danger once again shouldn't have bothered me all that much. Yet somehow, knowing that this was real life and I didn't have the powers of the curse to fall back on this time, made the situation so much more terrifying.

I woke with a splitting headache. It took me several agonizing minutes before I was able to get my eyes open. The light in the room only made the pain worse. Blinking slowly to allow my eyes to adjust, I did a quick scan of the room. I was tied to a chair in the center of the room and I appeared to be alone. The place was basically empty apart from a large, wardrobe against the wall in front of me. Behind me was a steel door that sealed me inside the concrete room.

The florescent light above me was annoyingly bright and I wanted nothing more than to punch it out. Unfortunately for me, my hands were tied behind my back and the rope was too tight to wriggle out of.

I tried taking a few deep breathes to calm my racing heart as I attempted to collect my thoughts too. I'd been all over Iris' mansion and I had never seen this room. Sure, she had what was lovingly referred to as the 'isolation chamber', but that looked nothing like this. I should know. I'd been locked inside the chamber plenty of times for my 'bad behavior'. I was convinced Iris just got sick of seeing my face around all the time and honestly I could say the same about her.

No, I definitely wasn't in Iris' house. At least I had that figured out. Now I just had to decipher where I was so I could get back. I craned my neck to look behind me at the door and a sharp pain equivalent to that of a hot knife pierced me just below my left ear. I gasped in pain and bit my lip to keep from making too much noise. A few curses escaped my lips as my hands fought against their binds.

My movement had caused a wound I didn't know I had to open and now I could feel the warm, sticky feeling of my blood dripping down my neck. What the heck had they done to me?

 _The tracker._

I wanted to scream in anger. Now no one knew where I was! How was I supposed to get out? I could feel the skin on my wrists becoming raw as I continued to fight with the ropes but I didn't care. My head hurt, my neck felt worse. I was still being bombarded with overwhelming emotions from all of the memories that were continuing to surface and I had to pee. Honestly, the last one just wasn't fair. On top of everything else, I had no where to relieve myself. What more could these people possibly do to me?

I'd heard of a few witches and wizards who had been against Iris' plans, but I never dreamed they do something as stupid as kidnap a person. Well, maybe it wasn't completely stupid. Honestly, on their part it was actually kinda smart and if I wasn't so terrified, I might have even felt a little relieved. With me not in the picture, Iris couldn't move on with her plans. At least not at the pace she had been. It would take her years to accomplish it now. That was time she didn't have.

Just then, the door swung open, nearly making me pee my pants. My heart raced as I craned my neck to see who it was, trying my best to ignore the pain it caused. The same man from the woods strode in with a small bowl and a rag. He actually smiled when he saw that I was awake, though it wasn't overly friendly.

"I do apologize for the wound." He said, coming to stand in front of me and motioning to the area just below his own ear. "I couldn't allow Iris the liberty of tracking you here."

I raised an eyebrow. "So you're one of the protesters then? I thought you worked with Iris? I've seen you at the mansion before."

He nodded and knelt beside me. Dipping the rag into the bowl of water, he got it damp before lightly dabbing it against the wound on my neck, cleaning up the blood. "I knew she had a secret weapon, I just didn't know what it was. I used my fake allegiance to her to figure it out."

"Let me guess," I hissed in pain as he cleaned me up, "I'm that secret weapon."

He gave me a knowing smile. "As long as you cooperate, no one gets hurt."

"Cooperate how? You have me tied to a chair."

"We have some experiments of our own to try." The man answered. When he met my eyes, I knew it wasn't going to be any good for me. "Different ways to stop Iris."

"You people do realize I'm not a lab rat, right?" I cursed Isis and her stupid curse. If it hadn't been for her, I would never have found out I was a witch. None of this would have happened. I wouldn't be stuck inside a cell with a strange man cleaning up my bloody neck. She was going to get an earful once I was out of here.

He only smiled lightly in response. "We'll see about that."

"And if I refuse to cooperate?" I ventured.

He lifted his eyes and the look I was met with was one of amusement. "I have some new tricks of my own I've been dying to try out."

I tried not to cringe at the idea. Magic was powerful and not at all friendly. With him being a powerful wizard, I wasn't eager to find out what he meant by 'tricks'. "Oh good," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes, "I have options. Exploit my magic for others' use, or get my brains blown out. This is gonna be a tough one."

The man chuckled as he got back to his feet. "I've seen a lot of things in my lifetime. None of them friendly and all of them as the direct cause of magic. I'm not about to sit back and watch the world fade away because one witch decides she's tired of hiding."

"What kind of things?" I asked, though I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer.

"Things that turned me into the monster I am today." His face was completely stoic as he walked back to the door. He stopped before leaving completely. "Choose wisely, Taryn Bauer. I would hate for the monster to be unleashed on you. Despite everything that's going on, I am on your side. However, that won't stop me from taking any action necessary to bringing Iris to justice."

I swallowed hard as I watched the door close behind him. I was in so much trouble.

* * *

 **August POV**

This was getting out of hand. They'd been searching for days and there still wasn't a sign of Taryn anywhere. Iris' plans had been ground to a halt with her disappearance but even that news couldn't lift his spirits.

Chord sat in the back corner of the room, nervously biting his lip as he watched August pace angrily. They were the only two left in the room after another useless meeting. No one had anything that could aid in their search for her. Why did these things always happen to her? She was going to give him a heart attack one of these times. August was going to die early in life and it would all be Taryn's fault.

"Come on, Taryn." August groaned, throwing his head back in frustration as he paced. "Where are you?"

Moving was the only thing that helped. He wasn't able to think if he was sitting down. He needed to feel like he was doing something. August could guess why they'd taken her. It wasn't unknown that Iris had enemies. Those few witches and wizards who didn't agree with her plans. Most were quiet about it, but there were a few whom August would deem crazy. He just prayed it wasn't one of the crazy ones who'd taken her. With her luck though, it probably was.

Anger continued to build up with every scenario that crossed his mind. Every possibility, every action they might be taking against her. Were they keeping her safe? Or were they torturing her for information that she probably didn't have? Were they forcing her to use her magic against her will? A few other unthinkable scenarios crossed his mind as well but he was quick to push those down. He didn't need to dwell on the worse. Right now, he had to focus on getting her back.

As he passed by the table in the room, he angrily swept the papers and pencils to the floor. None of their planning was doing them any good. None of them even had a clue of where to start looking. He spotted a coffee mug left at the end of the table and quickly snatched it up. With a shout of anger, he threw it against the back wall. It shattered upon impact, sending pieces of glass flying in every direction. In the opposite corner, Chord flinched.

It wasn't like they hadn't been in a situation like this before, but this was different. This was real life. There was no coming back from this if something went wrong. If Taryn ran her mouth too much and said something to make them angry - no. He had to trust her. She might have a quick temper, but she was smart. She wouldn't put herself in unnecessary danger.

Never mind, yes she would.

August sighed in defeat and slumped down next to Chord. The other boy looked a bit awkward, like he wanted to say something to comfort August's raging nerves but wasn't sure how.

"We'll find her." Chord eventually settled on saying.

August held his head in his hands. "Yeah, that I have no doubt. It's whether we get to her in time or not that has me worried."

"Trust your girlfriend, August." Chord said firmly. "Taryn is one of the smartest and most resilient people I know. If anyone can make it out of this, she can."

Just then, the door burst open and Dixie barreled into the room. Her eyes locked with August's as he leapt to his feet. Chord was right behind him as he crossed the room in two strides.

"It's Isis. She thinks she knows who took Taryn."

* * *

 **Taryn's POV**

 _Be smart about this, Taryn. Don't go getting yourself into more trouble._ August's voice rang through my head as I allowed myself to be led from the concrete room. After giving it some thought, the idea of unleashing 'the monster' became so much less appealing than offering up my use of magic. Besides, I was more than eager to get out of that room. The man had come in twice more after I'd woken up. The second time, he'd been forced to stitch my neck. My constant movement kept causing the wound to reopen. I couldn't help it. I had to be able to see what was happening around me. Things would have been so much easier if he had just turned my chair around. Although, that might have been a bit difficult seeing as how it had been nailed down to the ground, but still.

I don't know what I was expecting to see once we left the room, but it wasn't this. It led directly outside. My cell was nothing more than a giant box of concrete situated at the back of what appeared to be an abandoned construction yard. Equipment lay old and broken across the yard. Several large piles of concrete had formed where the cement had leaked out its containers. Rust and dust indicated the lack of use.

I was so confused, I forgot to be worried about where the man was taking me. All I could do was walk quietly behind him as I took in the scene around me. It wasn't until he led me inside a larger building that I was snapped back to my senses. Frowning, I stopped in my tracks.

The man sighed but didn't look surprised. "You came farther than I thought you would before offering up resistance."

I gave him a weary look. "I was a little distracted, but I'm not taking another step until you tell me exactly where we're going and what it is you're planning on doing to me." Just to prove my point, I leaned up against the wall and folded my arms over my chest. "Start talking."

"As I've told you before, we're going to preform some tests. We believe that, just as you are the key to bringing magic back into the world, you are also the key to destroying it completely."

"I can't say I'm completely against the idea." I admitted, mostly to myself.

The man nodded. "I knew you would see my side. I can not guarantee there will be no pain involved for you, but the cause is well worth it."

"You say that like it's your skin you're about to put on the line." I countered. "What if I'm not ok with pain? What if I refuse? I think I've filled my life's quota for 'amount of pain endured'." I shrugged. "I'd prefer not to subject myself to anymore."

"I get that, but we can't do this without you."

"Who exactly is 'we'?" I asked a bit cautiously.

"My partner." He answered simply. "You can't trust many people these days, but I would trust him with my life."

"And mine apparently." I grumbled.

He gave me a sympathetic look that almost looked genuine. "I would prefer not to have to force your help."

I rolled my eyes. "How nice of you to give me options. You know, you're the first person who's ever kidnapped me and actually given me the option to willingly help you. Most of the time they just assume I'll refuse and go right to forcing my help."

"Things usually go much smoother if the person agrees to help. There's a lot less blood involved."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "That's actually disturbing."

He merely lifted one shoulder in a slight shrug. "The monster inside, once released, is not held back easily."

"Clearly." I sighed dramatically and pushed myself up off the wall. "Fine, but I'm only helping you because it buys time for my boyfriend to find me. Once he does, you bet your butt I'm fighting back."

He nodded in understanding, not at all surprised by my statement. "That is a fair deal. I do hope for your sake that he arrives quickly." He motioned for me to move ahead of him. "Shall we?"

"I don't know where I'm going." I pointed out.

"There is only one room at the end of the corridor. That is where we are heading. My partner will meet us there."

I groaned and pushed past him. "There better not be a ton of pain involved or there will be repercussions."

"Noted."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Have a great day and I'll see you with the next update!**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Well...so much for getting this out last week haha - at any rate, I suppose a week isn't too long of a wait considering my last update took three months XD anyway! enjoy this chapter and I'll see you with the next update :)**_

* * *

 _No pain_. I had specifically said, no pain. People these days. They just don't listen. My body was drenched in sweat and my lungs ached from screaming. Every muscle in my body was pulled so tight I could have snapped it like a twig. "What exactly are you trying to accomplish here?" My words came out in short gasps as I struggled against the binds that held me to the table.

Once I'd entered the room, the second man had immediately grabbed a hold of me. The first man did nothing to stop him. He was at least three times bigger than I was and although I struggled against him with everything I had, I was no match. He'd had me strapped down to the table in a mere thirty seconds. That's when they decided to wrack the pain meter all the way up to 100. It had only been fifteen minutes yet it felt like an eternity.

"What are we trying to accomplish?" The man's partner asked in mock ignorance.

My kidnapper rolled his eyes. "Cut it out, Seth."

His partner, who's name was apparently Seth, rolled his eyes. "You're never any fun."

"As I've said before, we're preforming our own tests." The first guy said, sounding tired. "We need your magic to eliminate the rest of the magic from this world."

"Yeah, I get that." I groaned as my muscles finally started relaxing again. I wished they wouldn't do that. The pain was almost worse, yet my body was too tired to keep them seized up. I turned my head just enough to look him in the eye. "Remember our conversation just a few minutes ago? No pain. I remember telling you no pain."

He shrugged indifferently. "I told you there might be pain involved."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "I hate this. I hate both of you too. Just so you know."

The man chuckled lightly. "I had a feeling we wouldn't be your favorite people."

"Boss," Seth spoke up from across the room, "how much more can her body handle today? I have a few more tests I'd like to run to finish off this assessment, but they're pretty intense. I don't want her dying out on us too soon."

"I hate when people talk about me like this." I grumbled, my words falling on deaf ears.

"You can do one, though I would wait to try the second tomorrow. Two more might send her over the edge."

Seth nodded and turned back to his computer.

"Hey," I nodded toward my kidnapper to grab his attention, "first you kidnapped me, then you rip open my neck, then you tie me to a table and torture me. I should at least know your name."

The man raised an eyebrow but didn't object. "My name is Aidan."

I smiled up at him as best as I could. My entire body felt like it was weighted in lead. I could barely move any of my muscles. "Well, Aidan, I do hope you can successfully stop Iris. However, I'm afraid you're going to have to do this without me."

"You're strapped to a table." Aidan pointed out.

"True." I agreed. "And yet, am I really strapped to the table?"

Aidan looked at me as if I'd gone crazy. "Yes. Yes, you are strapped to a table. Seth put you there."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Using what little energy I could scrape together, I forced the straps to release and I sat up. Having magic came in handy sometimes.

Aidan's eyes grew wide. "How do you even have that much magical energy left?"

I rolled my neck to try and relieve some tension. "You people seriously need to stop underestimating me."

Seth spun around so fast that he nearly fell over. His eyes were wide and frantic as he stared at me. I smirked at him. He knew exactly what I was going to do. "Boss! She has both our names now, she's going to-"

He didn't have time to finish the sentence. I was thankful that Iris had taught me how to cast spells without speaking. I wasn't sure I would have had the strength. I felt the spell release and both men hit the ground. They weren't dead, but it would be a few hours before they woke up. Looking down at Aidan's crumpled form, I at least _hoped_ they weren't dead. The spell wasn't supposed to do much more harm than knock them out, but I didn't have a very firm grasp on my magic energy right now.

Sliding off the table, my legs gave out as soon as I tried putting any weight on them. Groaning, I pulled myself back up with the help of the table. At least I had a few hours to work with. I was going to need every second of it to get out of here. I wasn't going to be moving very quickly.

By the time I managed to hobble my way outside, my legs had given everything they had. I crumpled to the ground and no matter how hard I tried to get back up, my legs were too weak to hold me. I was too stubborn to just lay there in a pitiful heap though. At the very least I had to find myself a place to hide. Who knew when those men were going to wake back up. I couldn't just be laying there in the open for them to find. The next challenge was finding a place they wouldn't think to look. A place where I could rest just long enough for legs to become strong enough to carry me again.

I didn't make it far before my arms gave out as well. I was reduced to a pathetic, crumpled mess on the ground, unable to move a muscle.

"Well this is a pathetic sight if I've ever seen one." The voice was very, very English. Her accent was so thick it almost sounded fake. I didn't have the strength to move my head, but I had a feeling I knew who it was.

"What are you doing here?" My words came out in a slurred mess, yet the woman didn't seem to be fazed.

"I've come to help you."

I managed to roll my eyes. "I thought I was finally done with you people."

"It appears as though you've been mistaken." The woman paused for a moment. "By the looks of it, I'd say you're in most dire need of my assistance. Although my specialty is children, I suppose I can make this one exception."

"How very generous of you." I grumbled.

With a 'tsk' and a slight tap on my head with her umbrella, the woman strode around me and knelt down next to my face. Her expression was filled with judgment as she took in the sight before her. I probably looked a bit dirty and broken but did she really have to look at me like that?

I groaned as I looked up at her. "Are you going to help me, or are you just going to keep kneeling there staring at me in disgust, Mary Poppins?"

She raised an eyebrow and straightened back up. "Very well then, I suppose I shall help you. Your boyfriend is on his way, yet your enemy is beginning to arouse. I do believe you need a better hiding place than this." She sighed as if I'd just seriously inconvenienced her. She took a look around the grounds and nodded once. "Right, let's get this done then. I haven't got all day."

"You're a fictional character that I'm probably just imagining. You literally have all the time in the world." I pointed out.

She looked indifferent as she helped hoist me to my feet. For a woman who was only a little shorter than me, she was incredibly strong. She never once showed any signs of struggling as she literally lifted most of my weight. I frowned as she turned back to the building I'd just worked so hard to escape from.

She laughed when she saw the look of confusion on my face. "Not everything is as it seems, Taryn Bauer. You would be wise to remember that."

"I refuse to go back inside that building."

"You don't have much of a choice now do you? You know, if you believe something hard enough it'll come true."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

She smirked and I had the sudden urge to punch in her in the face. Watching Mary Poppins as a kid, I never remembered finding her so annoying.

"Where would you most like to be?"

"Far away from here."

"Name a place, Taryn. A safe place."

"Wherever August is." I mumbled.

She smiled and nodded. "Very well then. Shall we go?"

I didn't have a choice but to shuffle along with her. She opened the door and led me back inside the building, only instead of being faced with the cold empty interior I'd been expecting, I found a very shocked Chord. He was sitting on a plush sofa in a nice cozy little room, complete with a crackling fireplace.

"This doesn't seem to be the correct boy." Mary huffed. "Perhaps you imagined the wrong boy's face. This may have gotten considerably more awkward."

"No," I said, "he's here. This must be the new safe house."

"Taryn?" Chord asked, standing up from the couch.

I gave him a pained smile. "Hey."

"Oh my gosh it is you! Guys!" Chord shouted into the next room. "Guys get in here!" He turned back to me in bemusement. "Where have you been? How did you get here? Where did you come from? It's like you just appeared out of thin air."

"You can thank her for that." I nodded toward Mary.

Chord frowned. "Who?"

"The woman basically holding me on my feet."

"Taryn, there's no one there. It's just you. Are you ok?"

I frowned and turned to look at Mary who didn't seem at all surprised that Chord was apparently unable to see her. "She's standing right beside me, wha-"

I wasn't able to finish my sentence as August came barreling into the room. He took half a second to stare at me as if he wasn't sure I was really there and then I was wrapped in his arms. Mary quickly stepped back and allowed August to take her place. I melted against his touch as I finally allowed myself to relax. Tears sprang to my eyes as I hugged him back as best I could.

"Thank God you're alright." August whispered into my hair.

"I'm not sure 'alright' would be the word to use." I admitted. I tried for a sarcastic laugh but it came out as a strangled cough instead.

"Where were you? What happened? What did they do to you? I'm never letting you out of my sight again." August rattled off in a hurry.

I tried answering but I could barely keep my eyes open any more. My voice wasn't cooperating. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't force myself to make a sound. I didn't even realize my eyes had closed until I registered August's frantic voice. He was talking to me. At least I thought he was. It was hard to think through the fog clouding my brain. I was tired of fighting and eventually allowed the darkness around me to take over.

* * *

"Oh please, you and I both know that I am far superior. You wouldn't last a second on this side of the glass."

I slowly blinked my eyes open and rolled my head in the direction of the voice. For some odd reason, I wasn't at all surprised to find Mary standing in front of the mirror on the wall. She was arguing with her reflection and I wasn't sure she was winning.

"You talk a big game because you think you're invincible behind that glass. Well, allow me to present you with this beautiful image. This mirror, on the floor, shattered into a hundred pieces." Mary placed her hands on her hips stubbornly. "You won't be talking so big then."

"I'll merely appear in the next reflective surface you pass by. I'm your reflection after all." The Mary in the mirror replied smugly.

The real Mary stomped her foot and huffed. "I hate when you make sense."

"After you're done throwing your fit, I believe the girl is awake."

Mary spun around and smiled over at me. "Taryn! So glad you're finally awake. I do believe your boyfriend won't last another day without you."

"August?" I grimaced as I tried sitting up. "Is he ok?"

She waved me off. "He's fine. The boy seems to have a tendency to be overly dramatic. Three days with you in a coma and you'd think the world was ending."

I cringed. "Three days?" Knowing August, Mary was probably right. He'd be going insane. I had to go make sure he was ok. "Where is he?"

She shook her head. "You aren't going anywhere."

"I have to let him know I'm awake. If I don't, who knows all the stupid stuff he'll start doing."

"You may have a point, however, I can not let you leave this bed. Your body has suffered greatly. You'll only be causing yourself more harm than good." Mary warned.

"You're not my mom." I said. "You can't tell me what to do."

"You are correct. I am not your mother. I am the nanny. As such, I expect you to follow instructions."

"A nanny?" I stared at her incredulously. "You're kidding right? I'm an adult. I don't need a nanny."

"On the contrary, I believe you do. It seems you are incapable of staying out of trouble without one. Therefore, I am here to keep you in line. Perhaps you'll even live past the age of twenty-five."

I rolled my eyes. "I still need to talk to August. Would you go get him then?"

She thought about it for a second before shaking her head. "I'm afraid I won't be able to do that."

"Why not?"

"As you may have noticed before, no one else is able to see me. You can see where that might pose a problem with your request." She said pointedly.

I frowned in confusion. "So you're telling me that only I can see you? That you're nothing more than a figment of my own imagination? You're not even real?"

"Just because it's in your head does not mean it's not real."

I wanted to smack the smug smile right off her face.

"Your imagination is so much more vivid than most." She said.

"Thanks, I think." I groaned and propped myself up on my elbows. It was as far as my body would let me move. "What exactly did they do to me?"

"Do you really want to know?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't. Would you even know the answer though? If you really are just in my head, then you won't know anything I don't."

She laughed. "Don't be so certain. I never said you're imagining me."

"Yeah, you kinda did."

She shook her head. "Those men wanted to use your magic. They were slowly extracting it. Most likely it's being stored in special containers designed to hold one's magic. The catch to this however, is without their magic, a witch or wizard will die. It is my guess that they did not inform you of this?"

I stared at her blankly. I wanted her to shout 'PSYCH' and all of this would be one big bad dream. Unfortunately, I'm never that lucky.

"Judging by your facial expression, you were not aware of this. I am not sure the amount of magic they have extracted from your body, but if they were using sophisticated methods, the extraction process will continue slowly over time. The magic will constantly be leaking from your body until eventually you will run out and you will die."

"Your sympathy is overwhelming." I said sarcastically. My heart was pounding against my chest as I took in this new information. "How do we stop it?"

"You don't."

"What the heck do you mean 'you don't'?" Despite my body's protesting, I leapt to my knees in order to get closer to her. "Tell me how I'm supposed to stop this!"

"I believe I just told you. You can't stop it." She was surprisingly calm considering I had just been yelling in her face. "The only one capable of stopping this is the one who started the process."

I nodded and clambered off the bed. "Then I'm going back."

Mary looked skeptical. "In your condition? You can hardly walk. How do you plan on overpowering two healthy wizards?"

I froze. She had a point. My legs were shaking underneath me and the world refused to stay still. "I'll cross that bridge when I get there."

She crossed her arms and sighed impatiently. "I can't wait to see how you plan on doing this alone."

"Who says I'm going alone?" I countered, knowing perfectly well that I had been planning to walk out those doors on my own.

"Alright then, who do you propose we take along?"

"Anyone but you?" I suggested.

"One of these days, that tongue of yours is going to get you into very serious trouble."

"It already has." I shrugged indifferently.

"Are you really planning on telling August all of this?"

"Are you insane?" I shook my head. "Of course not. He'd only freak out, panic and make things worse by trying to help. I'd never leave that bed if he found out. I'll tell him after I have it all sorted out. No, I'm bringing Chord with me."

"Oh yes, because bringing another boy with you won't cause any problems." She retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Chord is a friend. August knows that."

"Yes, and he was also the only one you remembered for a while. I do believe that August is a bit emotionally unstable when it comes to you and I would dare say that he will be for a while. If I were you, I would tread carefully until you know things are alright again."

She made a good point, and I hated it. "Fine. Then who do you suggest?"

Mary smirked. "The only other person who can see me."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course that would be your answer. So who is it? Who's the lucky person that's been graced with the pleasure of seeing your shining face?"

"My good friend, Isis."

"I'm sorry, did you say 'good friend'?" I shook my head. "Not happening. This is the worst idea you've ever had."

Mary strode past me and opened the door. "It's a brilliant idea. What better way to overpower two wizards, then with two powerful witches? Besides, I could use someone else to talk to. You're beginning to get on my nerves."

"Why does it have to be Isis? Can't it be anyone else?" I complained as I followed after her.

Mary laughed. "Isis is the one who created me. Therefore, she's the only one besides yourself who's able to see me."

"She 'created' you? So you aren't real."

"She created the fairytale curse, and me along with it. I am not a person she pulled into the curse to portray a character. I was born with the curse. I am wholeheartedly, Mary Poppins." She bowed slightly as she said it.

"You're so much more annoying than in the movie."

"Julie Andrews was far too nice to play my role I must admit."

"No kidding." I used the wall as support as I shuffled behind her. One time. I would put my trust in Isis this one time but after that, she was going right back on my enemy list. For now, I'd have to just suck it up. The sooner we got this done, the better.


	9. Chapter 9

Isis laughed when I told her what was going on. She turned to Mary as if expecting her to tell her something different.

Mary merely shrugged indifferently.

Isis sighed and turned back to me. "I'm not sure what you're trying to do exactly. You'll never get those men to reverse this. From the way you've described him, Aidan is stubborn headed and won't give in. He's got it in his head that without you, Iris won't be able to accomplish anything."

"Well, is he wrong?" I countered.

"Not entirely. Iris would eventually succeed, but she would be a very old woman by the time she did."

"If that's the case, I vote we stop her now and I get to live."

"Choosing life is always a good option." Mary agreed.

"Hmm, but this could finally get you out of the way for good and I wouldn't have to lift a finger."

My fists clenched at my sides as I fought the urge to punch her in the nose. "I knew asking you for help would be pointless."

"I'm just saying, it's not a bad idea."

"What? To let me die? Thanks, Isis. I feel so loved right now."

Isis sighed. She turned to Mary and motioned in my direction. "See? That stupid sarcasm would die with her."

"We're not killing her." Mary said firmly.

"Thank you! At least someone is on my side." I said.

Mary turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "I never said I was on your side."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but at least with you around, I won't be voted dead."

"We need you. Unfortunately, you're the only one with a hope of finding Merlin's goblet."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

Isis stared at me in disbelief. "You forgot? That is literally the point of this entire mission. Sure, you're important to Iris' mission, but you're not entirely crucial. What she can't do is preform the spell without that cup. The cup has always been our priority."

"Jeez, I'm sorry. I've been a little preoccupied lately."

Mary pointed her umbrella at Isis. "You are going to help Taryn get her life back. Literally."

"You can't tell me what to do." Isis retorted. "I gave you life and I can take it away just as easily."

"You sound like a parent trying to threaten their kid into obeying." My mocking laugh only seemed to make her angrier. "Listen to the woman, Isis."

"Yes, I do agree with Taryn. You should listen to me."

Isis looked like she wanted to argue but kept her mouth shut. She gave a curt nod and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine."

We managed to sneak out without August noticing us and made it back to the construction yard. I was ready to collapse but seeing as how my life was literally on the line, I forced myself to move forward.

Isis took the lead as we silently slipped back inside the building. She scrunched her nose. "This is where they held their operation? It's filthy."

"And it's also hidden away from suspecting eyes." I pointed out.

She shrugged. "They still could have picked a place with a bit more class."

"I'm pretty sure the decor was the last thing on their mind when they chose it."

"We may have a problem!" Mary's voice carried from further down the hall.

Isis and I stopped to look at each other before hurrying after her. When we reached the back room where Mary was, I froze in my tracks. They were gone. Not just the men, but everything else in the room. From the table they'd strapped me down on to every last vial and bottle that had been scattered on the work desk.

I swallowed hard and my legs felt even more unsteady underneath me. "Now what do we do?"

Isis frowned. She watched me for a few minutes but didn't say anything.

I was starting to feel a little uneasy under her stare. Clearing my throat, I voiced my next question. "How do we find them?"

"We don't." Mary and Isis spoke in unison.

"Excuse me?"

Isis shrugged, finally returning to her indignant self. "We don't find them. These men don't want to be found which means they won't. Least wise not in time to save your sorry butt."

"Oh thanks. I feel so much better now." I retorted. "What do you propose we do then? We can't just stand around here anymore and I'm not getting any stronger."

"I suggest we tell August."

I almost choked on my own spit. "I'm sorry. There must have been something in my ears. I thought you just said we should tell August."

"Why are you so against it?" Isis questioned, the exasperation clear in her voice.

"Because he'll overreact and I'll be stuck in bed for the rest of my remaining days. I don't know if we'll find a way to cure me, but I know I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a bed."

"He could help us look." She countered.

"Yeah, and he'd never sleep again until we found them. He'd run himself into the ground trying to save me and I don't want that to happen either." I released a heavy sigh, suddenly feeling exhausted.

Isis' voice was surprising soft when she said, "If nothing else, he'd be there for you. I know you, Taryn. No matter what anyone says, you're too stubborn to stay in that bed. Despite what August wants, you'll stay up and fighting. It's what you do. But he has the right to know." She took a deep breath. "Just think about it."

I would have come back with some stupid witty remark but she'd surprised me. I wasn't prepared for those words to come out of Isis' mouth. Was she actually being _nice_ to me? _No way. There's no way Isis is being nice to you. There has to be something else to this._

Mary crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "Are we quite finished here? It's pretty clear that these men have run off. As Isis so kindly pointed out, we won't be finding them any time soon, so I suggest we go home before anyone notices the two of you are missing."

I nodded reluctantly. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."

"So you're going to tell him then?" Isis asked. If I didn't know better I'd say she was genuinely concerned.

"I guess I don't have much of a choice. I can't really do this without him and you made a pretty good point, as much as that pains me to admit." I added.

"That's the smartest thing you've said all day."

I rolled my eyes and turned around. "Let's get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps."

* * *

August took the news better than I thought he would. He only picked me up, carried me back to the bedroom and tucked me in like I was a two year old. I let out a frustrated groan as I got back to my feet. "You know you can't keep me in this bed, right?"

August shrugged. "I can try."

"Good luck."

His eyes were pleading as he looked at me. "Please, Taryn. I can't lose you again."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was only the two of us in the room. The others hadn't bothered to follow us, knowing we were probably going to end up arguing. I was hoping to avoid that. "August," I did my best to keep my voice low and soft, "you aren't going to lose me."

I slid off the bed and padded over so that I was standing directly in front of him. I could see his eyes filling with tears and I hated that it was because of me. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel, but all I wanted in that moment was to take away all of his pain and hurt. Unfortunately, all that pain stemmed from me. I had to find a way to cure myself before I could cure him.

"We're going to beat this. Just like we beat every other impossible odd we've ever faced. Together." I tried for a smile but I couldn't force it.

Instead of answering, he reached out and pulled me into him. I could feel the desperation in his hold. I clung to him with just as much desperation. My legs were shaky and it was getting harder to stay on my feet but I did my best to hide it. August would only freak out more if he knew and he didn't need that right now. I had to look as strong as I possibly could, for his sake.

Suddenly, I was alone. At least, I thought I was. August had disappeared and I wasn't in the bedroom anymore. I was back inside the concrete room where Aidan had kept me. My breath caught in my throat when I spotted Iris standing next to the chair where I'd been bound. To my surprise, the chair was occupied. I stayed rooted to the spot, too scared to move. What in the world was going on?

"Where is she?" Iris asked, her voice dripping in a poisonous honey.

The person in the chair didn't move. I wasn't even positive they were alive. Their head drooped and if it weren't for the restraints, they'd have fallen out of the chair.

"I won't ask again." It was a warning. A very clear warning. She was going to kill whoever that was.

"I've already told you," the person coughed, "I don't know where she went."

I recognized the voice. It was Seth. Well that didn't take her long to find out where I'd been. It was scary how efficient this woman was.

"Then I have no further use for you, do I?" With a flick of her wrist I heard the sickening sound of bones cracking and the man's body went slack. She'd killed him.

All I could do was watch with wide horrified eyes as she marched toward me. Nothing in her expression gave any sign that she'd seen me, but how could she not have? I was literally standing two feet in front of her.

I gasped when she didn't stop and walked right through me. It was the weirdest sensation I've ever experienced. I let out a sigh of relief once she left the room. What was going on, and how in the world was I going to get back?

* * *

 **August's POV**

"Taryn!" August desperately shouted her name as he caught her limp body. One minute she'd been holding onto him so tight he was sure he'd have bruises the next day, and the next she'd gone completely limp in his arms. She'd passed out. No, she hadn't passed out. Her eyes were still open.

The first thing he checked was to make sure she was breathing. She was. Good. The expression on her face was one of terror though. What was happening?

Dixie had heard his shout and came running into the room. When she saw August gently laying Taryn down on the bed, she started crying. "No, no no no. What happened? Is she ok? She's still breathing right?"

August stepped back, rubbing the back of neck as he tried to gather his thoughts. "She's breathing but she's definitely not conscious. Is there anything you can do?"

Dixie shook her head. "I lost any and all of my magic when we left the curse, remember?"

"Then get Isis."

"What?" She looked like I'd just punched her in the face.

"Look, I don't like the idea any more than you do, but right now, she's the only one who might be able to help."

It was clear that she wasn't happy about it, but Dixie ran out of the room to follow his orders.

August turned back to Taryn. He didn't have enough fingers to count the number of times Taryn's life had been put on the line. That just seemed to be the norm for her. He doubted they'd ever truly be out of trouble. Trouble had a way of following her around. He just prayed they'd be able to make it out of this one alive.

* * *

 **Taryn's POV**

I don't know what made me walk over to the man but I found myself slowly shuffling forward. His neck was twisted at an odd angle and I knew Iris had snapped it. I swallowed hard as I tried to keep my hands from shaking. It hadn't gone unnoticed that I felt completely fine. My body wasn't weak and falling apart anymore. Whether it was because I was inside this weird dream world, or because of something else I wasn't sure.

It took everything in me not to cringe away from the now dead body. I scanned both him and the chair, not daring to get too close. I wasn't sure what I was looking for but something told me it was important.

I was about to give up and walk away when something caught my eye. His hands were still clenched into fists but I spotted something sticking out of one of them.

Frowning, I bent down beside him, temporarily forgetting about my fear of the dead guy. My curiosity got the better of me and I reached out to try and pry his hand open. It was harder than I'd thought it would be.

Somehow, I managed to pry his fingers loose and pulled the small piece of paper out. On it were written six words:

 _the answer is in the curse_

* * *

 **sorry this one took so long to get up (again) haha hope you enjoyed it though! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

"No. Absolutely not. Nope." I perched on the edge of the sofa, my arms crossed over my chest as I shook my head in defiance.

August paced the room, his hand occasionally reaching up to push through his hair. He was still angry at me for sneaking out. I'd apologized but I had a feeling it was going to take more than an 'I'm sorry' to patch things back up between us. I'd messed up again. It seemed as if that was the only thing I was capable of doing lately.

"I'm sorry, Taryn, but nothing else makes sense." Dixie said.

"I refuse to go back. Been there, done that. Twice."

"Maybe third time's the charm?"

"Yeah, maybe we won't die this time." I huffed and fell back against the cushions.

Chord sat quietly beside me. I could see the wheels turning as he silently took in everything that was happening. Give him some time and he'd probably be the one to come up with the best plan of action.

I looked up to try and catch August's eyes. He was still ignoring me. With a sigh, I pushed myself off the couch and grabbed his arm as he passed by. He froze but didn't turn to me. "I get that you're still mad at me. You have every right to be. What I did was stupid and I should have talked to you about it, but can you please stop pacing. You're stressing me out."

"I'm stressing _you_ out?" He bit back angrily.

"Yeah ok, fine. You have a point. I'm dishing out most of the stress here." I released his arm and motioned for him to continue with his pacing. "Forget I said anything. Please, continue" I sank back onto the couch and crossed my arms over my chest. Fighting with August always managed to bring out my inner child and I found myself pouting.

August cast me a sideways glance before resuming his pacing.

"Iris keeping the goblet inside the curse. The idea isn't completely insane." Sam spoke up, her voice quieter than normal. She flinched when August shot her a glare. "All I'm trying to say is that it would explain a lot. Why else would she have kept that ridiculous thing alive?"

"Hey!" Isis protested. "I made that ridiculous thing."

"Thanks for proving her point." I smirked.

Isis looked like she wanted to kill me, which she probably did.

I turned to Sam. "Do you really think she'd have hidden it in there?"

She gave a tentative shrug. "Honestly, I'm not sure. She could have, but we won't know for sure unless we check it out."

I looked over to where Isis was lounging in the armchair, her legs crossed elegantly. Even in blue jeans and a simple black blouse she was beautiful. It just wasn't quite fair. She was watching us with an amused expression. "What are your thoughts on this?"

Isis raised an eyebrow. "Really? You're asking my opinion?"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't like it, but you are part of the team. We need everyone's help on this."

She thought about that for a minute before leaning forward and resting her chin on her hand. "I think I like the idea of sending you back into the curse. Gives me a chance to finish what I started."

"Are we on the same team here or not?" I asked.

She smirked. "I never said I was on your side. All I want is to keep my sister from wreaking havoc on the entire human population."

"That settles it then. We're on the same team which means you can't try to kill me until this is over. Get used to it."

"You're no fun." She pouted.

"Just answer the question. Do you think Iris would have planted the stupid cup inside the curse?" I was quickly beginning to run out of patience and she was just playing with me.

"I suppose she could have. It would be a good place to keep it. Safe from the world outside. Safe from you. Let's be honest, you don't want to go back there. Why would you? In a way, it really is a brilliant hiding place."

"So you do think she put it there?" I said.

"I didn't say that."

"Yes, you did."

"Not directly."

"You're starting to get on my nerves."

"Good."

"Why are you like this?"

"I enjoy annoying you. It's fun."

"I hate you."

Sam cleared her throat. "Great, now that we've got that out of our systems. Maybe we can start creating some sort of plan."

"Hmm," Isis stood, "I'm afraid I can't right now. Iris is expecting me back at her mansion before sundown."

I groaned. "I swear if you double-cross us-"

"You'll what?" She cut me off with a sneer. "You're dying, Taryn. All I have to do is wait it out. You're no longer a threat."

"So you admit that I was a threat."

"That's what you got out of that?" She asked in disbelief.

I shrugged. "It's nice to know I'm feared."

"Get out of here, Isis." Sam gave her sister a small shove. "We can't tip Iris off to what we're doing."

Isis grinned. "You kids be good while I'm gone."

"Yeah, yeah." I waved her off. "Or maybe we'll all just run away and not tell you where we've gone."

"You won't do that. You need me." The amount of 'smug' in her voice and in her smile was so annoying.

"Watch me. I don't need you. I'm stronger than you and your sister combined." It was my turn to look smug. "Get out of here, Isis. Before I kick you out."

"Isn't that what you're doing right now?"

I leapt to my feet and faked a kick in her direction. She squealed and practically ran from the room. I nodded with a smirk and sank back down to the couch. After a second I turned back to Sam. "How exactly would we go about getting back inside the curse?"

Sam frowned and scrunched her nose in thought. "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. That's more of Isis' department. If I'm correct in understanding how the curse is built, than I believe she can build you a portal right here."

"Well that's convenient isn't it?" I groaned. "Of course, the one thing that I don't want to work actually goes in our favor."

"Why are we even talking about this?" August blurted out angrily.

Dixie yelped and hid behind Chord who was staring at August with wide eyes. He didn't seem as scared, mainly just shocked. Though I suppose after so many years spent as a wolf, some of those flight instincts were kicked.

I nearly jumped out of my skin at his sudden outburst. "What?"

"The two of you! Do you even hear yourselves?" He was fuming. I'd never been afraid of August, but I found myself sinking further down into the sofa.

"What are you talking about, August?" Sam asked as gently as she could.

"You two are sitting there talking about going back into the same curse that's already successfully killed one of us." He gave me a pointed look. "And you're both completely ignoring the most important issue in front of us."

"Which is-?"

"You, Taryn!"

Dixie's head popped up from behind Chord's shoulder. "Taryn?"

"Yes! Taryn! She's dying and no one seems to care. Isis and Taryn were even joking about it earlier. What is wrong with you all?"

"August," I said slowly, "calm down."

"Calm down? Now I think you really have gone insane. How can I be calm when I know the most important person in my life is about to leave me forever and she doesn't even care?"

I flinched at his words. I could see where he'd gotten the idea that I didn't care. In truth, it scared the living daylights out of me to think about the fact that I was slowly dying and there was nothing I could do about it. Instead of facing it though, I did everything I could to distract myself from it. Keep my mind off of it. That's the only way I knew how to deal with it. Apparently, that was bothering August.

I was about to apologize but Sam spoke up first. "August, listen to me. Yes, Taryn is slowly losing her life. Those men stole her magic and unless we get it back, she won't be able to heal, but there's a chance we can buy some time."

"How?" August and I spoke in unison.

I nudged him with my foot. "Jinx."

He rolled his eyes but a ghost of a smile crossed his lips. I smiled to myself. Mission accomplished.

"Having her go into a world completely created by magic might halt the leak of her magic temporarily. It's just an assumption, but there just might be enough magic flow inside the curse to even out the amount that's leaving her body. It definitely wouldn't be permanent, but it would give us some time to find the men who have her magic."

"I didn't totally understand what you just said, but I'm pretty sure you just implied that the curse is the only way I'm going to see next week." I said.

Sam liked the idea about as much as I did. The distaste was clear on her face. "Basically."

"I don't like it, but-" August turned to me, desperation in his eyes.

My head fell back as I groaned. "I hate this so much."

"We'll go with you." Dixie said behind me, making me jump. I'd forgotten she and Chord were still in the room.

Chord nodded in agreement.

"No, I can't make you guys do that." I shook my head. "If I had an awful time inside that stupid curse, you guys had it worse."

Chord laughed. "Which is exactly why we aren't letting you go in there alone."

"He's right." Dixie nodded defiantly. "You can't keep us from coming, so deal with it."

I couldn't help but grin. "You guys are annoyingly stubborn but I love you."

"So now what?" August asked. "How do we get ourselves back inside the curse?"

Sam shook her head. "We're getting _them_ into the curse. I need you on the outside."

August would have punched her right then and there if I hadn't thrown myself at him. My arms wrapped around his in a pathetic attempt to keep him from unleashing all of that pent up anger on his mother.

"I know what you're thinking, but I need someone here to help me find the men who took Taryn's magic." She was surprisingly calm for someone who was almost just slugged in the nose. "It's the only chance she's got of making it out of this. Chord and Dixie are more familiar with the curse and the way it works because they were there longer than you were."

Even I wasn't a fan of this plan. "So what? You think separating us a good idea? I might not have all of my memories back yet, but I do remember enough to know that the only times we ever really succeeded was when we were together. I'm not sure about you, but I prefer to keep our odds of surviving this as far up as possible. I think we should stick together."

"I get where you're coming from, but I need someone here to help me. I can't do this on my own." Sam countered.

"You've got Isis." August said. His hand slipped into mine and he held it as if his life were dependent on it.

Sam sighed. "Not for long. Iris is smart. Even now she suspects that I'm up to something. It won't be long before she notices that there's something amiss about Isis as well. We're going to have to have Isis go back to being with Iris twenty-four seven. At least until things cool back down and we've reestablished a firm hold of trust."

"Than I'll stay and help you." Chord said, getting to his feet.

Sam smiled at him softly. "Thank you, Chord. That's very sweet of you, but I need August."

She cut August off before he could speak again. "Look, I know none of you like this idea and if I could, I would send August in with you all, but this is our best chance at making it through this."

"You're delusional if you think I'm going back inside that stupid curse without Prince-y here." I crossed my arms and gave her the most stubborn look I could muster.

"Prince-y?" August muttered out of the side of his mouth with a forced smile.

I shrugged. "You're the prince to my princess. What can I say?"

"That was the cheesiest thing you've ever said."

"Even I have to admit that was cringe worthy." Dixie spoke up behind me.

I just rolled my eyes. "The fact still remains, I'm not going in there without him."

Sam rubbed her temples in frustration as she let out an exasperated sigh. "You're the most stubborn person I've ever met and I grew up with both Isis and Iris."

I grinned. "I find it's easier to get my way when I'm stubborn."

She hesitated, her eyes darting between August and I. It was a losing fight and she knew it. She groaned. "Fine. I'll keep Chord out here. August can go in with you. Just try to keep yourselves out of trouble? And if you can manage it, keep yourselves alive?" She looked like that was the hardest thing she's ever said and I found myself questioning whether it was a good idea after all.

"No promises. I'm a magnet for bad luck."

August made a face. "No kidding. I've never met anyone who attracted bad luck like you do."

"Thanks, Honey. You really know how to boost a girl's self-esteem."

Dixie groaned and fell back onto the couch. "Why do I get stuck with these two again? I'm tired of being the third wheel."

August smirked. "Yeah well, if you and Chord finally decided to own up to the fact that you like each other, you wouldn't have to third wheel anymore."

Dixie's eyes widened and her face went red. "Shut up."

I laughed. "Clearly I missed quite a bit while I was gone."

Chord had taken to studying his shoes though I could see that his face was just as red as Dixie's. My heart warmed at the thought of my two best friends getting together.

Sam cut me from my thoughts when she said, "Isis will be back in the morning. We'll send the three of you through once she gets here. Be ready."

I swallowed hard and my hand found its way back into August's. This was it. I was really going back inside the curse. The thought sent my stomach into knots. I could only pray we'd be able to find our way out again.

* * *

 **I'm sorry these updates are taking so long to get up!**


	11. Chapter 11

The small boy sat cross-legged on the floor, staring up at the woman before him. He pushed his little blonde curls out of his face as he leaned forward slightly, hanging onto every word she said. His mom seemed to be especially agitated today. She came to visit once a day, usually at dinner time. It was his favorite part of the day.

His mommy was beautiful. He was sure that there was no one as beautiful as she was. Even when she was upset and pacing, she was beautiful. Maybe someday he could grow up to be that beautiful. So beautiful that people just couldn't help but stop and stare for a minute as he passed. But he didn't look anything like his mommy. She had long dark hair and pretty brown eyes, whereas his hair was curly and yellow. He didn't even have the same eyes. His were a bright blue.

"Adin, are you listening to me?"

Adin blinked several times before smiling up at the woman and nodding. "Yes, Mommy."

She rolled her eyes. "Adin, we've talked about this and I'm getting tired of repeating myself. Don't call me that."

Adin lowered his head to stare at his hands which were folded in his lap. "Yes, Mo- Ma'am."

"That's better. Now, did you hear any of what I just told you."

He once again looked up at her wide eyes. "Yes, Ma'am! I hear every word."

"Good. I'm counting on you, Adin. There could be trouble, but you're a big boy now. You can handle it." She crouched down in front of him and cupped his cheek in her hand. Adin leaned into the touch. Mommy didn't like to be touched. She didn't like hugs and she didn't give kisses but once in a while she would pat him on the head or touch his cheek. He loved it. "Don't disappoint me, Adin. I don't want to have to punish you."

Adin nodded fervently. "Yes, Ma'am. I will do my best."

Mommy smiled and straightened back up. Adin's smile dropped when she took her hand away but was quickly put back in place when she waved at him. "I'll be back tomorrow. You be a good boy."

"Always!" He beamed. He loved his mommy but he didn't love her punishments. The small boy unconsciously rubbed circles around the scar on his knee that he'd gotten from his last punishment. He didn't like upsetting his mommy. She was scary when she was angry at him. He wasn't going to disappoint her. Not this time. She had called him a big boy and that's just what he was going to be. She'd given him a big boy job and he was going to show her that he was ready for it.

* * *

 **Taryn POV**

"You're sure this is going to work?" I questioned, eyeing the flower vase on the floor. A slight purple glow radiated off of it, alerting everyone to the magic inside of it.

"Of course it will." Isis huffed. She was getting tired of me questioning her methods.

I tilted my head slightly, frowning at the vase. "Right, and when I go to jump into it and it inevitably shatters under me, I expect you to pay the doctor bill to remove all the glass from my skin."

Isis huffed. "I really hate working with you. When will you accept the fact that my magic is powerful and I can control it enough to keep it from killing you?"

I shrugged, never taking my eyes off the vase. "Probably never."

Dixie rolled her neck back and let out a frustrated sigh. "How long are they gonna take in there?"

"They should be back any second." I said, trying to sound reassuring. It was hard since I wasn't sure of anything myself.

"What did Sam have to talk to him about anyway?"

I shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe she just wanted to say goodbye. He is her son after all."

"Yeah, you have a point."

Isis scoffed. "I think it's a little more than just a goodbye."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, peeling my eyes away from the vase to look up at her.

"You mean you don't know?" She laughed. "Oh boy. This is going to be fun."

"Don't know what? What are you hiding?"

Isis waved me off. "Forget it. Here they come."

I looked up to see August coming through the door, Sam right on his heels. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost. His face was pale and his hands were shaking. He was trying his best to hide it, but he couldn't fool me. Something Sam told him had really shaken him. Behind him, Sam's eyes were red and puffy. She'd been crying. Hard. What in the world had they been talking about?

"You're sure?" Sam asked August. It sounded more like a plea.

August set his jaw and nodded once. "More than sure."

Sam looked utterly defeated as she motioned for him to join me and Dixie.

I watched him carefully as he approached us. When our eyes met, he smiled. A genuine smile. As if he hadn't just come out from the backroom looking like he'd just signed his death warrant. He placed himself in between Dixie and I. His hand slid into mine, interlacing our fingers. Leaning over, he whispered, "I love you." into my ear and squeezed my hand before letting it drop. It sounded like a goodbye and I hated it. If he thought he was going to be getting away with doing anything stupid he had another thing coming. I didn't know what he and Sam had talked about back there, but I was ready to protect him with my life. He wasn't going to be doing anything reckless any time soon.

"Good. Now that we're all finally here," Isis threw a pointed look at August, "let's get you kids back inside the curse."

"We're literally the same age." I pointed out.

Sam stepped in before Isis could argue back. "It's now or never."

I groaned. "I choose never."

August breathed a sarcastic laugh. "I don't think we get a choice."

"You won't let me have a choice."

He shrugged unapologetically. "If it means keeping you alive, then no. You don't have a choice."

I glared at him. "I hate you."

"I love you too." He grinned.

Dixie gagged. "Let's just get this over with."

"Ladies first." I bowed slightly, motioning toward the vase.

Dixie shook her head, copying my motion. "Age before beauty."

"How old are you? That comeback is invalid until your age is confirmed."

She grinned. "You used to know. You'll probably know again soon as your memories keep returning. That makes it valid."

"That's not fair."

I wanted to smack the smug look off her face but I was stopped when August laid a hand on my back. "Together?"

I shot one more glare at Isis who was looking far too pleased with this whole thing. My eyes lingered on Sam for a minute. Her eyes were glued to her son and she looked like she was trying not to cry. My heart clenched and I looked over to find him smiling down at me reassuringly.

"Are you sure? I mean maybe Sam is right. Maybe you should stay here."

He frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about this. Maybe you'd be safer out here."

"And so would you, but that doesn't mean you're staying behind."

"Because I can't, August." I shot back. "You're the one who keeps saying it. I wouldn't be going in if I didn't have to. You don't have to. Something about this is starting to feel off. I'm starting to think we should take Chord instead of you."

August tried to mask the hurt written plainly across his face. "I'm not letting you go in there without me, and I'm also not letting you stay out here. You don't have a choice in the matter, sweetheart."

Sam's voice was a little too hopeful as she stepped forward and said, "I'm with Taryn. It would be much better if we sent Chord with them instead."

"Would you two just stop?" August threw his head back in exasperation. "I can make my own decisions about my own life."

"Now you know how I've been feeling, sweetheart." I patted his head. "Doesn't feel very good, does it?"

"I'm tempted to play the mother card and make you stay here." Sam grumbled, mostly to herself but we all heard it.

"Don't you dare." August warned.

"As amusing as this all is," Isis interrupted, sounding highly annoyed, "I can't keep this portal open forever. You either go now, or none of you go at all."

August took both mine and Dixie's hand. "Chord isn't here so it looks like I'll have to go." Before anyone could protest, he pulled us both with him as he jumped through the vase.

* * *

 **Adin's POV**

His mommy had told him that his job was going to be very important. He believed her of course, but he still didn't like this. She hadn't told him that he'd be stuck in the dark like this. Adin was a brave boy, but he didn't like the dark. It was cold too. He could hear the sound of water dripping somewhere but he couldn't tell where. The sound echoed throughout the room and seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once.

The room he was in was large and filled with all kinds of treasures but he couldn't see any of them. He'd managed to feel around until he'd located what felt like a blanket, though the material was a lot scratchier than any blanket he had at home. Still, it offered warmth and he hastily wrapped it around his shoulders. Slowly, he sank down until he was sitting on the damp, rocky floor. Pulling his knees to his chest, Adin did his best not to cry. His mommy had promised he would meet some new people soon. Hopefully, whoever these people were, they would be able to take him out of here, or at least turn on the lights.

He took in a deep, shaky breath and swallowed hard. "Please," his small voice echoed throughout the large room, making him feel more alone than he'd ever been, "please hurry. Please find me."

* * *

 **Taryn's POV**

I was blinded by the sun as I slowly blinked my eyes open. The first thing I noticed was that I wasn't completely uncomfortable. That was new. Isis must have been feelings generous. The next thing I noticed was that I was warm. Pleasantly warm. Like waking up on a beautiful spring morning and feeling the sun on your face.

As my eyes adjusted, I found myself lying on the grass. The bright sun bathing me in warmth. It was beautiful and I wanted to stay that way forever.

Unfortunately, my bliss was interrupted by someone's frantic shouting. "Jasmine! Jasmine, where did you go?"

I groaned as I stretch and curled back up, muttering a soft, "Go away."

"Don't tell your father to go away."

I shot up, the word 'father' grabbing my attention. "What?"

"Oh good. You're up."

I looked over to find a short little man come running up to me. In a way, he reminded me of Belle's father from the Beauty and the Beast tale. He was charming and seemed friendly enough, but I knew better by now than to simply trust anyone.

"I am now."

"Excellent! Your suitor is here to see you. Do try to make it look as though you weren't just sleeping." His tone was caring but I didn't care.

"Who cares if I took an afternoon nap? I'm tired."

The old man laughed. "You are your mother's daughter. Now prepare yourself! He'll be walking through that gate any moment."

Just as he said it, the gates burst open and a man, extravagantly dressed from head to toe in jewels and gold, strutted towards us.

The old man laughed excitedly. "He's here! Be on your best behavior and have fun!" With that, he turned and ran back inside the palace.

I stared after him for a moment before turning my attention to the man who was now standing proudly before me. "Hey."

The man looked me over, as if inspecting a package and I had the sudden urge to slap him across the face. I frowned at him as I got to my feet. "Look, if you don't have anything intelligent to say, the door is right over there."

The man looked offended but kept himself composed. "Respect will be the first thing we shall work on once we are wed."

I choked. "Excuse me?"

"The wedding of course will take place inside the church. From there, we will both go to live in my palace as it is far larger than this one."

I stopped him by placing a hand over his mouth. "I don't know who you think you are, but no one talks to me that way. You shouldn't be talking to anyone that way. I have half a mind to put you in your place. As it is, I need to figure out how to get out of here so I really don't have time for you. I suggest you turn your bejeweled butt around and walk right back out that gate because I have no intentions of ever marrying you." I took my hand off his mouth. My nose wrinkled at the saliva left on my palm and quickly rubbed it off on my pants. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a goblet to find."

Without waiting for a response, I pushed past him and strode toward the palace. He was obviously quite offended and stared after me until I'd disappeared through the gate.

The old man was waiting for me inside. He excitedly grabbed onto my arm and began prancing along beside me. "So? How'd it go? Is my beautiful daughter finally engaged?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, no."

He deflated like a popped balloon. His arms dropped and he stopped walking with me. "Jasmine, when will you ever just allow someone to take your hand? I won't be around forever and I want to make sure you're taken care of."

"I can take care of myself just fine." I said, stopping to face him.

"I am well aware of how independent you are." The man sighed as if we'd had this conversation many times before. "However, a young woman like yourself shouldn't be alone. Besides that, there's the law which states you must be wed!"

I rolled my eyes. "I never follow rules. Especially not stupid ones. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a real prince to find."

The man's eyes lit up. "A prince? Have you really found someone? Are you going to be married?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. Something in the back of my mind told me that was a touchy subject. Hadn't August and I talked about it? I suppose I had just assumed we'd always be together. It hadn't occurred to me that we should probably talk about it.

He sighed. "Do me a favor and don't push this one away? If you really have found a prince, don't disregard him like you have every other suitor I've sent you."

I frowned and bit my lip. There was no way I would ever reject August, but would he still want me? After everything that's happened? Even with me not having my full memories. Isis had said there was a chance I wouldn't ever completely recover all of them. What if I forgot something important and I ruin everything?

The old man took my hands in his, pulling me from my thoughts. "I just want to see you happy. That's all."

I smiled down at him and squeezed his hand in reassurance. "Don't worry. I will be."

"Now where is this prince? When can I meet him?" He asked excitedly.

I allowed a small laugh to escape my lips. "I was just about to go meet him. Perhaps I'll bring him home with me this time so you two can officially meet."

The man nodded fervently. "Oh yes! Go fetch him. I will have an eloquent meal prepared for when you return."

I gave him a grateful smile and turned to race for the door. Obviously I knew what tale we were in, but I didn't like it. There were so many treasures in this stupid story. How were we supposed to find one specific goblet among all of them? I assumed if it was in this tale, it would be in the cave of wonders. Iris would have wanted to hide it where it would be hardest to find. It would be like finding a needle in a hay stack. Then there was always the possibility that it wasn't even in this tale. We had a lot of work ahead of us. The sooner we started, the sooner we'd be able to leave.

I made it a few feet down the road, my feet carrying me at a steady pace. My mind wasn't the only thing racing though. I didn't realize how hard it had become to breathe until I was forced to my knees as I attempted to catch my breath. My vision blurred and spots appeared.

I shook my head and blinked my eyes rapidly to clear my vision. My breathing eventually returned to normal and my heart no longer felt as if it were trying to escape my chest. I groaned and punched the ground. This was getting old. I no longer felt as if my life were draining from my body, but apparently I wasn't completely fine either.

Wonderful, now I wasn't going to do anything but slow them down. No, I wouldn't allow that. I was going to finish this. Iris wasn't going to win.

Stubbornly, I pushed myself to my feet and took off at a jog again, making sure to keep the pace a little slower this time. I had to stop occasionally to allow my breathing to catch up with me, but I was still moving at a reasonable pace. I could do this. I could work around this. I wouldn't let this beat me. No matter what, I was going to come out of this alive.

* * *

 **new characters, new plot twists and ridiculously long update gaps...sigh. someday i'll get my life in order enough to actually get these chapters up at a reasonable time haha**


	12. AN

Unfortunately, for the a while, I will be putting this work on hiatus. I will be starting college soon and all of my time has been devoted to that. Until I can sort everything out and fall into a good routine, I simply won't have the time to keep up with everything. Sadly, that means putting a few projects on the back burner. I promise to return though, and to anyone reading this story, thank you so much! It honestly means the world to me.

For now, I am signing off! Until we meet again, fair thee well


	13. Chapter 12

**guess who's baaaaack! ok so I know I don't really have any readers left for this story because I've been gone so long, but I promised myself I would finish Taryn's story so here I am. I will be editing and reposting a revised version of the story on my wattpad, tumblr and ao3 accounts once I finish out this last part. I will post the links for all three once I do for anyone who may want to read them. If anyone would like me to post the updated versions here as well, leave a comment and let me know. But for now, to fulfill a promise I made myself, I'm back :)**

* * *

Scouring the streets of Agrabah, I found myself pushing through crowds of people. I'd given up saying 'excuse me' and 'pardon me' 50 people ago. How anyone could live like this, I couldn't even fathom. I had a space bubble and these people were invading it. How on earth was I meant to find August in amongst all of these people? Not to mention Dixie. Who's character would she be forced to play?

Deciding that was a question for a later time, I focused on the task of finding August. If I remembered this story correctly, Aladdin got himself arrested after helping Jasmine escape the guards when she stole the apple. _Huh,_ I thought, shrugging lightly as I came to stand next to one of the vendors carts, _why the heck not?_ Grinning at the man behind the cart, I plucked an apple off the top of the pile. "Thanks."

"You must pay for that," the man nearly growled at me.

I shook my head thoughtfully. "No, I don't think I will. See, I much prefer my apples handed to me for free. Though, I will say the last time I was handed a free apple it did _not_ go well." With a loud and satisfying crunch, I took a big bite of the apple.

"That's it!" The man leapt around the cart to latch onto my arm, causing me to drop the apple in the process.

"Ah, man! That was a good apple too."

"Thief!"

"I said thank you."

"What's going on here?" A guard appeared then, his hand resting on the sword at his side as he approached.

"This girl is a thief!" The vendor said, bringing my arm up and shaking it roughly.

I rolled my eyes as my entire body shook with the force of the motion. "Oh my," I said with no emotion, "I have been caught. What ever shall I do?"

"Wow, could you sound any less concerned?"

The sound of his voice had me grinning from ear to ear. "Took you long enough."

The guard shot an irritated look in August's direction before grabbing my arm from the hold of the vendor. "Do you know what we do to thieves?" When I shook my head, he grinned. Slapping my arm down on the edge of the card, he drew his sword. "We remove their ability to steal."

A shameful squeak sounded from the back of my throat. I struggled against the hold of the guard but his grip was like steel. I couldn't move it. "August!"

"Oh thank goodness!" August was beside me then, pulling my arm out of the way just as the sword swung down. "You've found her."

"Huh?" All three of our heads turned toward August in confusion.

"I do apologize, my good sir." Snapping his fingers, a monkey scrambled clumsily up his side to perch unsteadily on his shoulder. It blew out a relieved breath of having made it up and dropped a few gold pieces into August's waiting hand. "My sister is not well. It's sad, really, but she's not playing with a full deck if you know what I mean."

I scoffed indignantly.

"She thinks she's the princess." He let out a thoughtful hum as he yanked my arm from the guard's grip and pushed me behind him. "Just last week she confused the merchant down the lane for the Sultan and kept calling him daddy. Scarred him for life, the poor man."

I wrinkled my nose at the awful pun he'd just made but decided to play along. "That man was my father and you know it! You dragged me away from my family and I demand to be returned unharmed."

August motioned toward me as if to prove his point. "You see? Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must get her home before she causes any more trouble."

A sudden cry had us all turned to look, only to find an angry little man running toward us. "Guard! Guard! I've been robbed. My money, it was stolen by a monkey."

The monkey on August's shoulder cringed and attempted to shrink out of sight. Frowning, I watched it carefully. There was something oddly familiar about the animal. My eyes grew wide when I caught its gaze. _Dixie_?

August didn't miss a beat. Dixie screeched and clung to August's neck as he began dragging us through the crowd. Unfortunately, the only thing that did was land us face-to-face with another guard.

August groaned as the guard grabbed hold of him. "You! You stole the bread this morning."

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I woke up with it in my hands." August said, pouting slightly.

"Sure you did," the guard scoffed, "and I'm the Sultan. You're coming with me."

* * *

Finding the others had turned out to be fairly simple. Getting August arrested hadn't quite been planned. Helping him escape had been a bit tricky. It would have been simpler, but Dixie had been turned into an adorable monkey who had very little control over her new limbs.

"How are we meant to get him out of there?" Dixie asked from her newly claimed perch on my shoulder.

"Live bait."

"Oh, good idea. Who are you gonna-" her eyes narrowed, "hey!"

I shrugged.

"You can't be serious."

"If you have any other suggestions, I would love to hear them."

August pursed his lips and his head tipped to the side. "Why don't you just walk in and demand the keys? You're literally the princess."

I gasped and stood straight, knocking Dixie off my shoulder. She landed on the ground with an indignant cry.

"You're right. I'll be right back."

Only minutes later, I marched down the steps to the prison, my head held high and my shoulders back. The guards caught sight of me and immediately stood at attention.

"My Princess," the guard on the left dipped his head.

Behind him, August huffed. "She's my princess."

I rolled my eyes at him but felt my cheeks heat up, nonetheless. "Hand over your keys. I wish to speak to the prisoner."

The second guard shifted uneasily. "I cannot allow you to do this."

"Why is that?"

He swallowed hard, looking uncomfortable under my stare. "I have direct orders from the King not to allow anyone near him."

"No," I corrected, stepping up to poke him in the chest, "you have direct orders from the advisor. Don't try to fool me. Whether either of you like it or not, Jafar is nothing but an advisor. My orders still rise above his. Now step aside, before you both find yourselves out on the streets stealing for your next meals as well."

The guards exchanged a look before reluctantly handing me the keys and allowing me access to my boyfriend.

Without a word, I took the keys and let August out. Dixie leapt up to resume her perch on my shoulder as I stepped back to drop the keys in the guard's hand once more.

"Thank you," I said, taking August's hand in mine, "you're both very lovely. I will be sure to put in a good word with my father and perhaps you will be leaving here today with a raise."

They clearly didn't like the idea of me taking their prisoner, but they kept quiet. Perhaps they feared my threat had been true. Whether I could have actually done it I didn't know, but I didn't want to stick around long enough to find out.

August squeezed my hand lightly as we ascended the stairs. I smiled at the gesture. We'd been apart for too long and though I still wasn't a fan of him being back inside the curse, I was glad he was with me.

* * *

"So what's the plan?" Dixie questioned, her monkey hands digging painfully into my hair as August and I jogged down the crowded street.

I grimaced, fighting to breathe as I did my best to keep up with my boyfriend. "Well, since we're the ones who broke Aladdin out of jail instead of Jafar, we're going to have to find the cave of wonders on our own."

"Found it."

I looked up in surprise, just in time to collide with August's back. Rubbing my now sore nose, I backed up and looked to where August was pointing. We were standing at the edge of town, before us lay a desert of sand. For as far as I could see, there was absolutely nothing. It was a big expanse of death that I had no desire to venture into. And yet, situated on the horizon, was a large hill of sand, resembling that of a tiger's head.

"We're going there, aren't we?" It wasn't a question. I knew the answer, I just didn't like it.

August glanced at me worriedly before nodding his head. "Will you make it?"

Squaring my shoulders, I took the first step into the desert. "Only one way to find out. Are you coming?"

Shaking his head, he followed after me. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

* * *

"We've been walking for forever!" Dixie whined, dramatically falling across my shoulder.

I groaned, bending over to rest my hands on my knees for a moment as I fought to catch my breath, forcing Dixie to scramble up onto my back. "Excuse me? You haven't taken a single step."

August laid a hand on my shoulder, concern filling his eyes. "How are you doing?"

Letting out a humorless laugh, I stood straight again. "We really should have brought some water along."

"We're not even halfway there yet," Dixie whined, "we're all going to die."

"What's your problem?" I snapped, fighting the urge to throw her off my shoulder.

"I'm a monkey!"

I jolted back at the sudden shout. Tapping my now ringing ear, I turned to glare at her. "Would you stop it? Shut up or you're walking the rest of the way."

"Ladies," August snatched Dixie off my shoulder before either of us could utter another word, "quit arguing. We either work together, or we really will be dead."

Blowing out a frustrated breath, I crossed my arms over my chest. "Let's just hurry up and find this stupid cup so we can get out of here."

August's gaze darkened a moment before he nodded in agreement. "We need a game plan. I'm going to need to make the wish since I'm Aladdin. I don't know if the curse will let anyone else."

Dixie hummed in agreement. "I doubt the curse will even allow Taryn inside the cave. She may have to wait up here for us."

I groaned as I looked up toward the blistering sun. "I don't suppose the sun will feel like going away while I wait."

"Just how powerful is this genie?" August questioned.

Dixie shrugged. "Who could say?"

"Do you think he'll be able to help us locate the goblet?"

"Most likely, but you're going to have to word your request very carefully. The genie is a tricky character. He can easily manipulate you."

"Of course, he can. It would be too easy if he couldn't."

August breathed a laugh. "We'll figure it out. I promise. Just like we always do." Taking my hand in his, he offered me a reassuring smile.

With a groan, Dixie clumsily dropped off my shoulder. "I really need to get myself a boyfriend."

Rolling my eyes, I followed after the monkey with August in step beside me.

By the time we reached the Cave of Wonders, several hours had passed yet the sun still shown brightly overhead. We had all quickly become drenched in sweat and it was getting increasingly more difficult to breathe with every step. August had taken to acting as my crutch. Concern seemed to be a permanent look for him now, his eyes darting in my direction every few minutes.

"Well, now what?" Dixie panted, scrambling up the side of August's leg to his shoulder. She had taken to walking beside us for the remainder of the trek. Considering I could hardly hold myself up, I was grateful for that.

"Now, we attempt to get inside." I said, forcing myself to stand straight.

"How?" August asked, his hand hovering just inches away from my waist, ready to catch me should I lose my balance. "We don't have Jafar with us. Isn't he the one who's supposed to open it?"

"It already looks like a massive tiger so maybe we don't?"

"There!" Dixie leapt off August's shoulder and bounded across the sand, only to scoop up a handful of it and waddle unsteadily back to us.

"Dirt?" August cocked an eyebrow.

"Dixie, I'm pretty sure there's enough of that around. We don't need to keep a souvenir."

Dixie huffed, sifting the sand between her fingers. "It's not a souvenir." Moments later, something shiny appeared beneath it all. "Doesn't this look at all familiar to either of you?"

My eyes grew wide. "Dixie! You're a genius."

"What is it?" August asked, confused.

"It's the jewel thing Jafar used to awaken the tiger in the movie."

"How'd he do that?"

"Seriously?" Dixie scoffed. "Haven't you ever seen the movie?"

He smiled sheepishly.

Laughing lightly, I patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I still love you."

Groaning, Dixie snatched the metal pieces out of my hand. "Before you two start being gross again, let's get the ball rolling, shall we?" Awkwardly, she managed to get the two pieces to fit together before tossing it in the air.

At first, nothing happened. We watched at the medal bug flew into the air and come falling back down uneventfully. Just before it hit the ground though, the bug sprang to life and darted off toward the mountain of sand. The moment it collided; the tiger came to life.

With a yelp, Dixie darted over to hide behind my legs. Instinctively, August stepped up, shielding me with his own body.

"Who dares to disturb my slumber?"

Dixie made a strangled noise, nearly burying herself in the sand. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"The cave of wonders." I breathed in awe. "This is amazing."

"Amazing? That thing could eat us for a late afternoon snack and still have room for dinner."

I rolled my eyes. "You're so dramatic."

August took a deep breath and stepped forward. His words directed at the tiger when he spoke. "It is I, Aladdin."

"Only those who are worthy may enter." The tiger's voice boomed over the expanse of the desert.

With a frown of confusion, August turned to me. "It is Aladdin who enters the cave, right?"

A slow nod was my only answer. Something felt wrong here. The cave should have welcomed August, not warned against entering.

Shrugging, August started forward as the stairs formed inside the tiger's mouth.

"August, wait." I scrambled forward, stretching my arm out in front of him. "Something doesn't seem right. The cave didn't recognize you. In the story, the cave knows Aladdin."

"What do you suggest? It won't let just anyone in."

"Well," I forced a smile, "who is it that Iris likes to mess with the most?"

August shook his head. "No. Absolutely not. You are not going in there alone."

"Tell me you don't feel it too."

"I don't."

Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose as I thought. "I can't explain it. I just have this strong gut feeling that you shouldn't go anywhere near that cave."

"I'm not letting you go in alone."

"I don't think we have a choice."

"There's always a choice."

I shook my head. "Trust me on this one. Please?"

Dixie sucked in a sharp breath. "When Taryn uses 'please', you know she's serious."

"I don't like this." August grumbled.

"I don't think any of us do, but I know this is what's meant to happen." Giving him a soft smile, I planted a quick kiss on his lips. "I'll be quick. Keep Dixie here with you, would you? Keep her out of trouble."

"Come back to me alive."

Rolling my eyes, I breathed a small laugh. "Sounds a bit ominous doesn't it? Don't worry. I'm not so easy to get rid of."

Before August could protest any further, I approached the entrance of the cave. My eyes remained focused on the tiger's eyes for as long as I could. They seemed to follow me as I approached, yet there was no warning given. I took that as a good sign. Biting my bottom lip, I stepped inside and took the first few cautious steps down the stairs.

 _I see you got my message._

I froze, immediately recognizing the voice in my head. "Isis."

 _Did you really think I wouldn't notice you entering my own curse? You can do nothing without my knowledge, Taryn Bauer. Honestly, did you believe I would hide the goblet somewhere quite so obvious as the Cave of Wonders? I thought you were smarter than that._

I scoffed, continuing my decent down the stairs. "I'm guessing you gave me that little nudge back there. Why? If there's no need for me to even be here, why would you send me inside?"

 _Your boyfriend simply isn't as entertaining as you are._

"I'll take that as a compliment."

 _Just because you are no longer here in the real world, does not mean I can't use you to my advantage. There's someone here I wish you to meet. Until then, I'm afraid you won't be able to leave._

Immediately, the cave began to shake beneath my feet, and I heard August shout my name.

"Isis! What are you doing?"

 _Ensuring no one else can bother you while you're in here._

"Why is this so important to you?" I shouted, attempting to keep my balance on the stairs. The first few gave way and I was forced to duck to avoid getting hit in the head with a flying clump of sand.

 _Find the boy, Taryn. Find the boy and survive the night._


	14. Chapter 14

**August's POV**

August dropped to his knees, digging wildly at the sand as he called out Taryn's name. This wasn't meant to happen. This hadn't been a part of the plan. How had this happened? It was supposed to be him inside that cave, not Taryn.

"August!" Dixie attempted to grab his attention, jumping in front of him and waving her arms over her head.

He ignored her. The sun scorched down on his back as he threw sand in every direction. He had to get to her. He had to save her. He came here to protect her but he'd failed.

"August, pull yourself together!"

August hardly blinked as he batted her to the side. Dixie screeched as she soared through the air, only to bounce right back and come bounding toward him once more.

"You aren't thinking straight," she tried to reason, keeping out of arm's length this time, "if you want to help Taryn, you have to calm down."

How could he? She was in danger again, and he couldn't help but feel as if it were his fault. He never should have let her go in there alone. He should have been there. He should be in there with her now.

With a cry, he slammed his fists into the sand, tears cascading down his cheeks. Distantly, he heard Dixie talking to him but he wasn't registering what she was saying. After everything he'd sacrificed to be here – the things he would sacrifice to get her home. He had to get her back. He had to get her out. Clenching his fists, he grit his teeth as he pushed himself to his feet.

"August?" Dixie scrambled to climb up to his shoulder as he began to march back toward Agrabah. "Where are we going?"

"To find help."

"Help?"

"Who knows what'll happen to Taryn down there. She's not Aladdin. We need a way in and there's only one man I know who can get us just that."

Dixie sucked in a sharp breath, "Jafar."

* * *

 **Taryn's POV**

This was definitely not a part of the plan. I wasn't even supposed to enter. August was meant to go in, find the lamp with the genie inside, wish for the genie to find the cup and then together we could all destroy the stupid thing. Those plans had been drastically turned on their heads and now I was stuck inside the cave with no way out.

"This just great." I grumbled. "How am I supposed to find anything in here? I can't see a darn thing."

As if on cue, a light flickered to life on the other side of the cave. My brows drew together as I slowly began moving toward it. If I had learned anything from this whole experience, it was not to trust anything that seemed too helpful. It only ever led to trouble. Still, I had nothing else to go on and I wasn't about to stumble blindly through the dark.

Carefully, I picked my way down the remainder of the stairs until I was back on solid ground. Every now and then the walls would shake, sending bits of sand and rocks cascading down. Whatever Iris had done to the cave had made it unstable. Any loud sound could cause the entire thing to collapse. I wasn't fond of the idea of dying down there alone.

The sudden sound of someone sniffling had me frozen in my tracks. It sounded like a child, though I couldn't be sure. All sounds seemed to echo through the cavern, making it nearly impossible to tell where it had come from.

I heard it again and I spun on my heels as I attempted to pinpoint the source of the sound. "Is someone there?" Alright, perhaps calling out to the unknown sound wasn't my best idea, but when had I ever had great ideas?

There was a moment of silence before a small voice called out, "Hello?"

My heart leapt at the sound. It was a child. Of that, I was certain, but what would a child be doing down here inside the cave of wonders? As far as I knew, there were no other people inside the cave with Aladdin, let alone a child.

"Where are you?" I called out again, hoping to track the sound of his reply.

"I'm here."

I rolled my eyes at the response. Could he have been any more vague? His small voice seemed to echo off the walls in every direction. Finding him wasn't going to be easy.

"What's your name?" I asked, slowly spinning in a small circle. The small light that had come to life only offered to cast threatening shadows along the damp walls. I could hear water dripping somewhere. The ground beneath my feet began turning from sand to rock as I slowly moved forward again. This wasn't just a sand cave. Another shudder shook the room and I fought to keep my balance. The boy let out a small whimper. There had been a small possibility of surviving a cave in of sand, but if the cave of wonders was made from rock, I stood no chance.

"Adin," he answered, his voice even smaller than before.

"Nice to mee you, Adin. My name is Taryn." I kept my own voice soft as I slowly moved forward again. "I'm going to need you to do something for me, alright? I need you to keep talking."

"About what?"

"Anything. I just need to hear your voice so I can find you, ok?"

"Ok,"

I sighed when no response came. "Are you alright, Adin?"

He sniffed, "yeah."

"Good," I was going to have to keep him talking with questions. The poor boy was too scared to come up with anything on his own. "How did you find yourself all the way down here?"

It was silent for a moment before he answered in the smallest voice I'd ever heard. He uttered four words - four words that seemed to knock the very wind out of me. "Mommy put me here."

Closing my eyes for a moment, I took a deep breath. I knew better than anyone what it was like to have parents who didn't care what happened to their kids. I'd had the advantage of being a bit older when I went to live with Colton. I could defend for and take care of myself. This boy sounded so young. Why would his mother send him here alone?

"Adin," I said, suddenly on my guard, "are you alone? Is your mommy here?"

"No, mommy left," The cave shook, and Adin whimpered, "Madame left long time ago."

"I'm sorry," I shook my head, not quite believing my ears, "did you just call your mother, madame?"

"Yes. Sometimes I forget and I call her mommy by accident."

"Your mother doesn't like you calling her 'mommy'?"

"No?" He said it as if he found it weird that I would suggest otherwise.

I scoffed slightly, careful to keep quiet so he wouldn't hear me. Just what kind of a mother was that? "Why don't you use her real name then? Why call her Madame?"

"Don't know it."

I froze again. "You don't know her real name either?" I didn't receive an answer this time and I realized I may have gone too far. This was just a kid. I couldn't take any frustration towards this so-called 'mother' out on him. It was time to change subjects. "How long have you been here, Adin?" I asked, forcing my feet to keep moving. I had to find the boy and find a way out before the whole thing came crashing down on our heads.

"A long time. Madame said you would come. But it has been dark too long."

"Adin, are you afraid of the dark?"

I could almost hear him nodding. My foot tripped on a pile of treasure and I had to bite my tongue to keep from cursing. I wouldn't curse in front of a child.

"Ok, change of plans."

"Are you hurt-ed?" The innocent question and the way in which he voiced it reminded me painfully of Michael from my time spent in Neverland.

Ignoring the sudden ache in my chest, I shook my head. "Nah, I'm ok, but I'm going to need you to do something for me again, ok?" I took the silence as a yes and hurried on. "I need you to head toward the light. I'll meet you there and then we'll get out of the cave together."

"Madame doesn't like us to leave the cave."

"Yeah well," I grumbled more to myself than to him, "I don't like to follow orders. Can you make it to the light on your own?"

"Like a big boy?" He asked, sounding unsure.

"Yeah, like a big boy."

"Ok."

* * *

 **August's POV**

"This is such a bad idea." Dixie groaned for the thousandth time from her perch on August's shoulder.

He ignored her, just as he had every other time she'd said it. This was the only way he could think of to help Taryn and he wasn't about to just sit back and do nothing.

"Maybe we should just go back. Taryn's probably already found her way out by now."

"I'm not taking that chance."

"But-"

"No, Dixie. You can either pipe down and help, or you can go wait for Taryn to free herself on your own. Either way, I'm finding a way to get her out."

Dixie sighed, finally admitting defeat. "Fine, but I'm not going to be the one to tell Taryn we got ourselves into trouble with Jafar when it inevitably happens."

August sighed tiredly. "You worry too much."

"You're starting to sound like Taryn."

"Is that such a bad thing? Name one time she hasn't pulled through and saved all of our necks."

Dixie went quiet and her gaze darkened. August winced when she grabbed his shoulder a bit harder than she'd meant to.

"What's your problem?" He asked, reaching up to peal her little fingers loose.

Shaking her head, Dixie seemed to snap out of whatever haze she'd fallen into. "Sorry, I'm alright."

"Are you sure about that? You looked like you'd been recalling some awful memory."

"It was nothing."

"Right," August rolled his eyes, "like we all didn't go through traumatic experiences that left us all with dark memories. What's going on, Dixie? Don't think I didn't notice how you tensed right after I asked about Taryn."

She went still again, and August froze in his tracks, realization dawning. There was only ever one person Taryn hadn't been able to save. The one person who had given his life to allow them all to escape the curse. "Alfie," he breathed.

Dixie went still and August knew he'd struck a sore subject.

"You can't possibly blame Taryn for what happened." She didn't offer him a reply and he sucked in a sharp breath, doing everything he could to control his anger. Getting angry at her now would only serve to further their complications. Still, he needed to know, "How could you even think of blaming her? She did everything she could. There was nothing any of us could have done to save him."

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure we all could have walked out of there alive. Alfie had never been her favorite person. He was expendable."

"No, that's not what happened, and you know it."

"She let him die, August!"

"Taryn's never willingly let anyone die."

"She hardly fought him on the decision. She wanted him to be the sacrifice instead of her."

In one swift movement, August swept Dixie off his shoulder and held her by the tail, dangling before his face. "If you really think Taryn would sacrifice Alfie for her own gain, you don't really know her at all. She was ready to die for us all and still is. It's who she is. If you were really her friend, you would know that, and you'd be doing everything you could to make sure she wasn't doing that in this very moment. I'm sorry about what happened to Alfie, I really am. Taryn had nightmares for weeks about it. She used to wake up crying and screaming his name. Did you ever stop to wonder why she never slept when you were around? She didn't want you worrying. She knew you liked Alfie, maybe a little more than the rest of us. She didn't want you hurting any more than you already were."

"August, I-"

"No, for once, you're going to shut up and listen. The day Alfie died, something inside of Taryn died as well. We may all want this curse to be gone for good, but no one wants it as badly as Taryn. As long as this curse is around, Alfie's memory continues to haunt her. I doubt she's had a decent night's sleep since. Now tell me again. Tell me again how she wanted Alfie to die. Tell me how she planned it all."

Dixie hung limply in his hold, tears streaming down her face. Sighing he brought her back in and gave her a hug. He hadn't meant to go off on her like that. They were all scared. No one knew what was coming. No one knew what to expect. All they had were each other and they couldn't afford to turn on themselves now.

"We can't afford to place blame now. We need all of us working together to get out of here."

Dixie nodded and silently climbed back up to his shoulder. She was still hurting, that much was clear but at least she was willing to work with him again.

"Good, now let's go find Jafar before anything bad happens."

"I'm sorry," August jumped at the sudden voice, turning to find a tall, scrawny man standing beside them. With an evil glint in his eyes, he leaned slightly on his staff as he pressed in toward August, "I believe I heard my name. May I help you?"

* * *

 **Taryn's POV**

I made it to the source of the light surprisingly quickly. The light was coming from a lamp. The thing was beautiful; golden with intricate designs along the sides and up the handle. This had to be the genie's lamp. What else could it be?

Still, it was easy. It was all too easy. Adin was close behind me. I could hear him shuffling his way toward me, moving a bit slower than I had. Something was wrong.

"Adin?"

The pace of his shuffling quickened. "I will hurry." He sounded scared, as if I were going to yell at him for taking too long.

"No, no, Adin stop. Don't come any closer. Freeze!" I shouted when his shuffling continued.

He froze.

Swallowing hard, I carefully picked up the lamp. The movement caused our shadows to dance across the walls menacingly. Behind me, Adin whimpered.

"Adin?"

"Yeah?"

"I need you to get behind something. Pretend we're playing hide and seek. Find the best hiding spot you can and don't come out until I call for you, ok? Can you do that?"

He didn't give a response, but I heard him shift around several large pieces of treasure. I waited until he was well hidden, until the cave had fallen silent once more. Two beats of a breath passed as I stared at the lamp. Pushing down the hesitation, I quickly rubbed the side of my fist along the edge of the lamp.

There was no immediate response and for a moment, I worried it wasn't going to work. Visions flashed through my mind of being trapped inside the cave for the rest of my life.

Adin yelped and I nearly dropped the lamp in surprise at the sudden sound as soft cries began emanating from his direction.

"Adin?" I called out cautiously. "Adin, are you alright?"

The only response I received were more soft cries. It sounded as if he were in some sort of pain. Perhaps something had fallen on him, or he'd managed to get himself stuck. Quickly, I made my way toward the sound of his cries.

A searing pain caused me to drop the lamp with a harsh hiss as I cradled my hand against my chest. Looking down, I noticed the lamp was glowing, wisps of smoke curling into the air around it.

My head shot up in the direction of Adin's cries as they slowly grew louder and more frantic. My heart pounded against my chest as I stood frozen on the spot. The cave groaned and shifted slightly as Adin's cries turned into screams. Sand rained down from the ceiling and the entire room began to shake.

Spreading my hands out to keep my balance, I shouted for Adin, trying to figure out where his screaming was coming from. I had to find him. I had to put a stop to this, but I didn't know how. I felt utterly helpless as I stood frozen on the spot, barely able to stand as the shaking steadily became more violent. Bits of the ceiling and the walls began falling away. The entire cave was about to fall apart.

Just as suddenly as it had begun, it all stopped. Adin's screams seemed to vanish, taking with it the violent shaking. I immediately called out to him, but there was no answer. He hadn't disappeared completely right? Or worse? Oh please, don't let it be worse.

The silence was eerie, somehow feeling more ominous than the screams had just been. At my feet, the lamp jumped. At first, I wasn't sure it had even happened. Once I snapped my head down at the sound, it remained still. Not a single movement came from the lamp. I'd been seeing things, that's all.

Just as I was about to resume my search for Adin, it happened again. The lamp jumped once, colliding with the side of my foot.

Swallowing hard, I knelt down and carefully picked it up. It was vibrating slightly as I slowly rubbed my thumb across the side of it, clearing the dirt away. There was something written there. Something that hadn't been there before. My breath hitched when I finally managed to make it out. It was my name, staring up at me like death sentence.

 _Taryn Bauer_

I nearly dropped it again when the blue smoke emerged from the spout of the lamp. Holding it at arm's length, I watched in an odd mixture of horror and fascination as the smoke slowly formed into the shape of a person. As the smoke cleared, it revealed a small boy and I had feeling I knew who it was. His face was pale and painted with freckles and beads of sweat. Large blue eyes peered up at me, just able to see past the ends of the curly blonde hair.

"Taryn?"

I tried to force a smile, but that was something I was never good at. As usual, it appeared as more of a grimace. "I take it you're Adin."

He nodded, the fear evident in his eyes.

Sighing, I knelt down so I could be eye-level with him. "It seems you're my genie."

"I think so."

"Well," taking his hand, I gently rubbed my thumb across his clammy skin, "do you think you're ready to grant me a few wishes?"

With a clenched jaw and a new spark of determination in his eyes, he nodded. "Madame said I would have an important job and I will do it."

Smiling, I nodded encouragingly. "Alright then, Adin the Genie, for my first wish, I want you to show me where Iris is hiding the one very special goblet that will help me send us all home."

He frowned, "Are you sure? That would mean we have to leave this tale and go to a different one."

"The cup isn't here?"

He shrugged. "I don't think so. I can feel it. It's cold, not hot like here."

My mind began reeling with all the possibilities as I carefully nodded. "Ok, let's do it. I hope you like the cold, Adin, because we're going to go find a goblet."

"I like building snowmen." Adin said with a grin. "Can we build a snowman while we're there?"

With a sigh, I stood up straight and picked the boy up in my arms, though I couldn't fight the grin tugging at the corners of my lips. "I suppose it couldn't hurt. We should have time to build at least one snowman."

Adin cheered and the cave began to fade. "I'm glad you're here. I like you."

My smile faded with the cave. I wasn't sure what we were about to face, but I knew one thing. I wasn't going to let anything happen to this little boy, no matter what his mother had planned for him. As long as he was with me, I was going to make sure he was safe.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry it took a little longer to get up than I'd anticipated but what else is new. Stay tuned for the next chapter! Some interesting things are about to occur :)**


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